Harry Potter and the black unicorn
by Rita-Skeeter2
Summary: Set after book four. Hogwarts pupils are called back to school early when mysterious events start to occur. Harry must defeat Voldemort but not without help. Vague R/H and H/S trying to put behind their differences to work together
1. Reflections and a letter

Harry Potter and the Silver Unicorn  
  
Disclaimer: Funnily enough i don't actually own these charactors, coz if i did i'd be pretty bloody rich and probably chilling out on a private yot by now. However....the silver unicorn and Professor Sirene hidellbank are mine so keep your dirty little paws off!!! (not like you'd want 'em anyway but hey)  
If i made money out of this it would be an insult to all decent writers out there. So no, i'm not making any profit from this.   
Anyways....enjoy my attempt at book five, dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuun!  
  
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Chapter One - Reflections and a letter  
  
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It was a warm summer day, much warmer than was usual in this part of the world. Ron Weasley sat on the steps of his house tapping his foot to some imaginary beat. He was bored, well maybe not bored, he wasn't really sure what was wrong. It was hard to be bored in the Weasley house, his 5 brothers, especially the twins Fred and George, meant that there was always something fun or at least amusing happening there. His two oldest brothers where away, one in Romania with his dragons, and the other doing work for the Ministry of Magic at the moment though. The only other brother left in the house was Percy. He was now working for the Ministry of Magic and was rarely home...which wasn't really a problem as when he was home he was incredibly boring and whined far too much. He was great to annoy though. He also had a younger sister called Ginny, but she wasn't that much fun either!  
The previous summer he hadn't been bored, especially when Harry and Hermione had come to stay and see the Quidditch World Cup final.   
That's what he missed. His two best friends from his school, Hogwarts School of wizardry and witchcraft.   
  
Harry Potter was very famous in the wizard world as he had been the boy that lived when Voldemort, the most evil dark wizard in century, had tried to kill him. He had been the downfall of Voldemort. However, Voldemort was rising again, this had been established in the last year of school during the third and final event of the Triwizard tornament. Harry had been lucky to survive and return to them when Voldemort had transported him to another place where he and Harry had duelled.   
  
Ron shuddered at the thought of Voldemort, he couldn't stand it when anyone said his name, then again, neither could virtually all the magic world except Harry and Professor Dumbledore (the Schools headmaster and the only Wizard that Voldemort feared).   
  
Of course, many wizards and witches where on edge now, although many refused to believe he had risen again. No one, except his followers (the death eaters) wanted to live in fear of him like they had only 14 years before, before his reign of terror had ended.   
The horrible thing was, Ron perhaps, was in less danger than his two best friends Harry and Hermione. Voldemort obviously wanted Harry dead; he had tried to do so twice within the last few years. He also wanted to rid the wizard world of all mudbloods (wizards and witches that did not have just pure wizard blood in their families). This meant Hermione, who had two muggle (non magic) parents, would be a target of the death eaters.   
  
They already knew that some of the death eaters had already returned to Voldemort. Lucius Malthoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Avery and Macnair amongst others. Some had fled when the death eater mark on their arm had glowed, as they had renounced Voldemort to such an extent that he would surely kill them.   
  
Many of the death eaters were still in Azkaban, a prison guarded by Dementors. These were awful creatures who drained the joy from the people in the prison and made them feel all the hurt and anguish in their life. A Dementors kiss would suck out the soul of the victim.  
At the moment where controlled by the ministry. However, many feared that if Voldemort regained more strength, they would go over to his side, releasing all the prisoners there. Apparently the Giants too, would side with Voldemort. Giants were usually very vicious although he knew two half giants that where not. Hagrid, Gamekeeper and Magical creatures teacher and also one of the trio's closest friends at Hogwarts and Madame Maxime who they had met during the triwizards tornament. These two had been sent on an important mission this summer, which was meant to be secret, but Ron thought he could guess what it was. They where going to try and offer the Giants the hand of friendship to stop the giants siding with Voldemort. This sounded dangerous, but very likely; Ron just hoped they were okay.   
  
It also seemed that Serverus Snape, Potions teacher, was on a dangerous mission too. Ron wasn't sure he wanted him to be okay; Snape was hardly Mr nice, especially not to Harry, Hermione and himself. Ron couldn't understand why Dumbledore trusted Snape, as Snape used to be a death eater. He has swapped sides during Voldemorts reign of terror and become a spy for the 'good side'. Perhaps that's why Dumbledore trusted him Ron mused. Ron certainly didn't trust him but he knew Dumbledore had never been wrong before. Perhaps he was missing something about Snape, something Dumbledore knew. Perhaps Snape was an important piece of the puzzle for the 'good side', or maybe it was a matter of keeping your friends close but your enemies closer. Yet Dumbledore trusts him, trusts him enough to take up his old role as spy again even, it certainly seemed that way.   
  
Nothing had been done so far though that had stopped the strange events that kept occurring, and they were getting much more regular. How anyone could ignore these signs and brush them away to the back of their minds Ron didn't know. To him it was clear; Voldemort was back and had to be stopped before he could return to full power.   
  
Ron shuddered, he wanted to see Harry and Hermione again, it felt safer when they where all together. Actually, he wanted to be back at Hogwarts under the protection of Dumbledore and all the teachers and the people he had sent for at the end of last term. These people included Sirus Black (Harry's godfather), Remus Lupin (a werewolf who was the Defence against the Dark arts teacher in third year and had helped them all greatly that year) and two people they hadn't met called Arabella Figg and Mundungus Fletcher.  
  
Ron saw an owl carrying a letter drop down from above and enter his house through the window, it looked vaguely familiar. He stood up to go inside and see whom the letter was from. Before he'd even got through the door though his mother was already there with the letter.   
"Ron, get Fred and George and tell them to start packing for school, you too" said Mrs Weasley hurriedly.   
"Mum...what's going on?" asked Ron.  
"I'll tell you all when you're all packed and downstairs again" she replied.  
  
Ron ran into the garden to find Fred and George chasing Gnomes.   
"Fred, George! Come quick, you've got to pack your school stuff and then meet us all downstairs" he yelled.  
They stopped and looked at him blankly.  
"Why?" asked one of the twins.  
"I don't know, mum wont say until where packed!" replied Ron hurriedly.  
George and Ron took of in a run towards the house, Ron quickly followed.  
  
Within twenty minutes all three where packed and downstairs with their stuff.   
Mrs Weasley led them into the kitchen where they all sat round the dining table. She cleared her throat, and then began.  
"Now boys, we have just had a letter from Hogwarts. They want all pupils back immediately. There will be a train at one o'clock tomorrow afternoon from platform nine and three quarters"  
"Why?" asked Fred calmly  
"You'll get a full explanation at Hogwarts. However, I'll tell you briefly what's going on. Basically there have been some disappearances. One or two...or six old aura's, which are death eater hunters have..........disappeared...mysteriously. Also, a couple of wizards and witches in the areas where those aura's live have disappeared too. They happen to be......well they're not..... erm..."  
"Pure blooded" finished Ron for her, "he's growing stronger isn't he?"  
"Yes" a voice came from behind them.  
"Dad!" exclaimed Fred, "your back early"  
"I'm here because I heard Hogwarts are recalling all students early" he explained.  
"We know, we have the letter dear," said Mrs Weasley calmly.   
"Good, are you all packed then?" he asked, they all nodded in response.  
"Good, go do whatever you want to do then" he continued as he turned away from them and poured himself some water.  
"But dad..." started Ron but he was cut of by his father.  
"No questions Ron" he said, raising his voice slightly, "Dumbledore will answer your questions, not me"  
Ron knew better than to push any further so he went up to is room grabbing the Daily Prophet newspaper of the table as he went. He lay on his bed reading it but found nothing of much importance. Why had Hogwarts students been recalled?  
  
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Please reveiw for me, especially if you can see any spelling mistakes!!!  
  
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	2. A New Old Era

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Disclaimer- Not mine blah blah blah make no money blah blah blah  
  
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Chapter 2- A new old era   
  
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By 12.45 the next day Ron Weasley and his brothers were facing the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 on Kings Cross station London. Wizards and Witches could walk through this barrier onto platform nine and three quarters where the train to Hogwarts School ran from.   
Fred and George went through together followed by Ginny. Ron waited for Harry and Hermione to meet him before he went through.   
Only a couple of minutes later Hermione turned up.  
"Hey" said Ron, waving to her as she approached.   
"Hey" she replied shortly.   
She waited until she got closer to him before speaking again.   
"Ron, Mrs Weasley, what's going on? Why have we been called back so early?" she asked, her voice was barely above a whisper.  
"Ron will tell you what he knows on the train dear and oh look, here's Harry," said Mrs Weasley, a smile crossing her face when she saw Harry. She gave Harry a hug when he reached them and sent them of through the barrier before Harry had a chance to ask any questions.   
They found themselves an empty compartment quickly. Hermione was the first to speak.  
"Go on Ron, what's going on?"  
Ron smiled weakly and explained.  
"Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure, apparently Dumbledore will fully fill us in when we arrive at Hogwarts. All I know is that some old Aura's have gone missing along with some of their neighbours. These neighbours happen to have been, well, not pure wizard blooded families"  
"So" muttered Harry "He's regaining powers quickly"  
"And followers it would seem" added Hermione, she turned to Ron as if she was about to ask something.  
"As far as I know the Dementors are still guarding Azkaban" he said, predicting her question "and I've heard nothing about the giants"  
"So he's not THAT powerful yet" muttered Harry, "There may still be time to stop him before any real damage is done"  
"Maybe" agreed Hermione, "but why have we been recalled to Hogwarts then? For our own safety"  
"I'd say so," said Harry quietly.   
  
They sat in silence for a while. Many thoughts were racing through Harry's head, all Voldemort related. The death of his parents, the death of Professor Quirrell, the death of Cecil Diggory, Neville's parents insanity (something only Harry knew about as he'd promised Dumbledore he'd keep it a secret). It was all down to Voldemort, all of it, he even got Hagrid expelled when he was back at school over 50 years before. Harry hated him, hated his link to him. Hated all that were involved with him, especially the Malfoy's. Hated Snape, well, maybe not. He wasn't entirely sure if he did hate Snape. He certainly disliked him as a person, but to turn away from Voldemort and risk his life to become a spy for the good…. it showed he had to be good at heart. If he had one…maybe he was good at some other kind of body organ, good at liver. Now he knew he was just being random. He decided to give up trying to think, not till Dumbledore had told them what was going on.  
  
However, Harry was fully brought back into the real world when Draco Malfoy made his entry into the compartment to sneer at them.  
  
"So Potter, scared yet?" he sneered. Crabbe and Goyle laughed somewhere from right outside the compartment.  
"Of what?" asked Ron "You? Or your giggling bodyguards behind you?"  
Malfoy didn't seem to have a reply for that. Instead he just glared at Ron and turned back to Harry.  
"No Ron" cut in Hermione, "I think he means of his big bad you know who loving dad or possibly Crabbe and Goyle's big bad you know who loving dads"  
Ron laughed at Hermione's boldness. Malfoy seemed to find a response for this though.  
"Why you laughing mudblood? You may be next on a death eaters list," he said coldly.  
Ron was suddenly on his feet, "and you might be next on mine you sick bas…" he shouted but he was cut of by Harry.  
"Ron sit down" Harry had managed to blurt out before Ron finished his sentence.   
"He wants you to react Ron, leave him standing there making any comment he wants. Were not afraid Malfoy, but I'd take into consideration that if Voldemort is stopped it will be you family that will be very scared because I saw your dad with Voldemort last year. He returned to him, Ministry wont be letting him of a second time"  
Malfoy just glared at Harry for a moment before turning at walking out of the compartment. They could see is two followers wondering after him down the passageway.   
  
"What's he doing here?!!!" exclaimed Ron "wouldn't you think Dumbledore would have wanted him as far away from Hogwarts as possible, father being what he is and all"  
"Maybe he doesn't want to seem to suspicious, I mean, nobody's officially accused Lucius Malfoy of anything," offered Hermione.   
  
There was a clap from the doorway suddenly. All three of them suddenly swung their heads around to see who was there. In the doorway was a relatively muscular, fairly tall, young woman. She looked as if she was in her mid twenties and had long black hair, which reached half way down her back. She had deep brown eyes, a pale completion and a slight scar running from her forehead to her jawbone on the right side of her face. Harry noticed straight away that she was very pretty in a rugged kind of way.   
The lady smiled at them, it was a confident but friendly smile.   
"I take it you must be Harry Potter…. unless you've painted that scar on your face, lets see, if he's Harry, you'll be Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger" she smiled again.  
"Oh but how rude of me. I'm Professor Sirene Hidellbank, your new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher"  
"You seem to be awfully young for a Hogwarts teacher" said Hermione by way of a response.   
"True" replied Hidellbank "but then, I'm hardly needed as a normal teacher now am I? I think you'll find I'm perfectly suited to teach you how to protect yourself against this new threat Miss Granger"  
Harry looked up from the floor where he had been staring quickly, "You mean we've been called back early to learn how to defend ourselves from the death eaters?"  
"And the giants, and the Dementors and whatever else comes this way, whether that be evil men in hoods or pigeons" replied the teacher "of course your also here for your own protection. Right now, Hogworts is the safest place you can be"  
  
She turned towards Ron, "Mr Weasley, we've actually met, however you wont remember me, you were too young I think. I knew your older brothers, I was a couple of years above them in school and in the same School house, and the same one as you three too I believe"  
"Yes" replied Harry politely.  
"Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you, I believe though, we'll be spending plenty of time with each other though"  
Hidellbank turned to leave but then turned back. "I know you don't know me yet but please, if you need any help, or guidance or anything, even a message for Dumbledore let me know. I'm here to help you, you in particular Harry, Ron, and Hemione. Please, let me do my job and do it well" with that she turned and left.  
  
The Rest of the train journey was spent in silence as all three of them could think of very little to say. Time seemed to pass very fast and they were at Hogwarts earlier than they expected.   
Harry could hear Hagrid collecting the first years further down the platform and managed to shout hello to him and get a reply.   
He didn't have time to go see him though as everyone was already ploughing their way to the castle like they were to scared to hang around.   
It didn't take them long to get to the great hall and take their seats at the Gryffindor table. Harry was sitting next to Ron who was facing Hermione. Hermione had Neville Longbottom to her left and the Weasley twins to her right. It seemed too normal to stand especially when the first years came in for sorting.   
Luckily sorting didn't last too long and they were all eating a great big feast in next to no time. This helped take Harry's mind of Voldemort slightly as he was very hungry. He'd only been back at the Duddley's for a week and a half and he'd only had about 5 meals. Hermione had sent him some cookies though and the Weasley's had sent him a cake.  
After everyone looked like they had finished eating Dumbledore rose to his feet.  
"Welcome back to Hogwarts, or of course in the case of our new students, welcome to Hogwarts. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you've all realised, we have not returned under the greatest of circumstances. It would seem that he who must not be named is gaining power and at some point will try and regain what was his over a decade ago"  
During Dumbledore's speech they're where a few gasps from students, especially the younger years.  
"Of course, it is still the summer holidays and therefore, lessons will not start as normal until term is due to start. However, you will all have Defence against the dark arts lessons and a duelling lesson each week. First and second years will have one of each lesson; third and fourth years will have two Dark arts lessons and one duelling lesson. All years above will have three darks arts lessons and one duelling lesson. You could say we are trying to prevent a new old era, if you understand what i mean"  
No one seemed to know what to say to that, there was pure silence in the great hall. Or maybe they didn't understand what he had meant, or maybe they were just to suprised to gasp or show any signs of comprehension of what he had just said. Professor Dumbledore glanced round quickly then spoke up again, "Could Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger please see me in my office please?"  
With that he sat down and Professor MgGonagall stood up.   
"Everyone is to go to his or her common rooms and chambers and settle down please," she said in her best authorial voice.  
Everyone filled out of the Hall to go to his or her various destinations.   
  
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I wont be updating for a few days because i'm away but please please please review!!!  
  
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	3. Harry's New Time Table

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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (part 3) - Harry's new timetable  
  
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Harry, Ron and Hermione reached Dumbledore's office and looked at each other blankly.  
"Well?" said Ron, "do we just wait here?"  
Harry shrugged at him and just turned to face the door again. After about 2 minutes it opened of its own accord and Harry led the other two into Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore wasn't the only one there though. Snape was standing in the corner nearest Harry and MgGonagall, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and the new teacher Hidellbank were all gathered in the room too.   
"Hey Harry, Ron, Hermione" Spoke up the new teacher, "you okay?"  
"I see you've already been introduced then?" questioned Snape coldly.  
"On the train" said Hermione, her voice was almost snappy with him. To this though, all she received was a piercing glare.   
"Indeed" Cut in Dumbledore. "Now you three, your routine will be a bit different. As well as your three Defence against the Dark arts lessons a week you will also have an evening lesson with both Professor Hidellbank and Professor Snape. You will also have an extra duelling lesson with Profssor Hidellbank and Professor Lupin. These extra lessons will be on your timetable in you rooms. Oh and also, Nevile Longbottom will be joining you for your extra duelling lesson"  
"Neville!" exclaimed Ron "why on earth?"  
"Never you mind Ron," said Dumbledore conspiratorially "Now, Ron, Hermione could you return to your rooms please"  
Ron and Hermione slumped off looking thoroughly unimpressed about being left out of the loop yet again.  
Once Ron and Hermione where out of earshot Harry turned back to Dumbledore.  
"Are Neville's parents missing?"  
"Yes," replied Dumbledore "very observant Harry"  
Dumbledore turned to Snape, "Tell Harry Serverus, tell him about what you know"  
Harry swung round to face Snape, who avoided eye contact with him.   
"Potter" he muttered "At the moment you don't appear to be under threat. He's more interested in revenge killings, scare tactics and gaining supporters. Soon though, once he has become more powerful, he will turn on you and Hogwarts. He does want to capture Hogwarts but he wants you dead first. I suppose he thinks he'll have less problems then"  
"Could you have not put that in a more appropriate way Snape" snapped Sirius Black from behind Dumbledore.  
"Its okay" said Harry calmly, trying to defuse the situation, "I needed to hear it straight"  
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds, which was broken by the new teacher.   
"Well, Harry, we're all here to try and prevent that happening and I tell you now, each of us would rather die than let him get to you or this school, even Snape"  
Harry raised his eyebrows at that last comment and glanced across at Snape and wondered if it was really aimed at himself or as a hint to his potions master.  
  
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When Harry reached the Gryffindor tower he found himself face to face with the fat lady who wanted the password before he could enter.  
"I don't know it" said Harry, starting to worry, "I've been in Dumbledore's office and no one has told me it"  
The fat lady closed her eyes for a few seconds, as if she where thinking.  
"Oh go on then, if I get into trouble I'll be very upset with you though"  
With that she swung open the door.   
Ron and Hermione walked over to him immediately, so they just inside the doorway, slightly away from everyone else.   
"What did he say Harry?" said Ron in a whisper.  
"Snape has been spying on Voldemort" Harry started "Apparently Voldemort wants to get back to full strength before launching a proper attack on Hogwarts and...well...me."  
"So were safe, for now at least" muttered Hermione, "but Harry, how does Dumbledore expect to fight him?"  
"I don't know," said Harry, he looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "I guess he's trying to keep Voldemort's old allies away from him, weaken his power base and all."  
Ron looked slightly sick, both Harry and Hermione watched him shift uneasily.   
"What's wrong Ron?" Said Hermione finally, breaking the silence.  
"Well" said Ron "The ministry of magic will have to try and deal with the death eaters along with other wizards help. I'm guessing Figg, Lupin and whoever will be part of that. I suppose though, they'll be preparing to double back if it all gets too bad, and focus on keeping Hogwarts as the main defence point"  
Ron paused briefly and continued.  
"I mean, there are other towers with spare rooms here in which hundreds of them could stay. It just makes me sick knowing my brothers and my dad and mum will be out there fighting."  
Harry and Hermione were silent; they had no idea what to say to him. Harry closed his eyes and tried to think of something comforting to say but nothing came. He was relieved when Hermione spoke up.   
"We're all worried Ron, but it will be ok. We've defeated him before, we can do it again."   
Ron gave her a look that stated that he doubted she really believed that but said nothing.   
  
Ron shifted uneasily again then nodded towards the stairs and turned away. Harry watched Ron walk away and go up the stairs towards the dormitory. Hermione gave Harry a worried glance,  
"What are you going to do?" she asked quietly.  
"Go for a walk and clear my head" Harry paused seeing her expression "In the castle, not in the grounds don't worry"  
"Oh. Oh okay" she said, "Well still, be careful. Harry smiled at her to assure her he would be and turned and left the Gryffindor common room.  
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Please please please review!  
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	4. Harry's Walk

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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (part 4)- Harry's walk  
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Harry turned down the corridor leading away from the Gryffindor tower and was mildly surprised to find Malfoy (with Crabbe and Goyle) stalking round there. He managed to hide his surprise however and spoke up.  
"What are you doing down here Malfoy, shouldn't you be with the other slimy gits in the Slytherin common room?"  
"Ah, Potter," said Malfoy coldly " shouldn't you be with the other muggle lovers in the Gryffindor common room?"  
Well, he was obviously hoping to see me thought Harry; he wouldn't be here for any other reason.  
"You always seem to want to be near me Malfoy, your friends will start thinking you fancy me or something. Either that or daddy wants his boy to impress Voldemort and spy on me."  
Harry couldn't help but continue,  
"You dads scum Malfoy and so are you. Not only is he a murderer, he's a coward, wearing a hood when he strikes. You'd do well to join him, a little git like you, ha, Voldemort would love you. You'd be his favourite little bastard wouldn't you...although probably one of his most useless. You know what I think you hate about Hermione, Malfoy?.."  
"Filthy mudblood" he cut in, looking a little taken back by Harry's malicious tone.  
"Nah Malfoy, what really gets you is she's better than you at everything. She knows more and can do more. Daddy must be ashamed; I could see it in his face that day at Flourish and Blotts two years ago when we first met him. He thinks you're as useless as I do"  
Harry was surprised at what he'd said but stood his ground and glared at the three of them. Malfoy looked taken a back, very taken a back in fact.  
"Well, Potter. Let's see if you sound so confident when my father gets hold of you...you and your..."  
"The next time I see you father Malfoy I'll be face to face with him with my wand. The next time I see your father you'll never see him again."  
Draco Malfoy looked really taken a back then, he just stood there, almost frozen. Crabbe and Goyle were as still as him. Suddenly a voice came from behind Harry, it was Professor Hidellbank.  
"What are you still standing there for Malfoy" she said sharply "do you want his autograph or something, or do you want to swap sides and join Gryffindor?"   
"Never" spat Malfoy ferociously, Grabbe and Goyle nodded like puppets behind him.   
"Then remember Draco, that your father killed mine, and if i catch him wearing a death eater cloak Mr Potter here wont have a chance to kill him. He'll already be dead."  
  
Harry watched Malfoy back away slowly with his followers until he got to the end of the corridor; he then turned and disappeared pretty fast. Harry guessed he must be running and couldn't help but smirk. His thought's turned to Hedellbank, she must have been standing there all the while. His thought's were cut short when she spoke up again.  
  
"Disgusting family that, there's never been a decent one in years. You'd be amazed to know that young Mr Malfoy junior there is the nicest in over 3 centuries in most people's opinion." Said the Defence against the Dark arts teacher.  
"Only 'cos he's so pathetic" muttered Harry, turning towards her.   
"Maybe, but don't give up hope on him Harry, were all still hopeful that boy may turn against his father"  
"Him?" said Harry, an amused look flashed across his face "Draco Malfoy..."  
"...Is a young boy, his ideas have been set by his father but it doesn't mean he totally believes them. Fear is a powerful weapon Harry"  
Harry looked at her blankly, trying to fathom what she was talking about. His mind was blank however and instead he found himself just staring at her.  
  
She smiled at him again, a gentle and kind smile.   
"Where are you going Harry, taking a walk?"  
"Trying to clear my mind, put things in perspective" he answered tentively, rubbing his brow with his fist.  
Professor Hidellbank nodded and again smiled at him,   
"I'm just walking round getting used to the place again and making sure everythings okay to be honest" she said, glancing around at the walls.  
"Not much has changed really, not much at all. Oh, except the general levels of fear and panic amongst everyone. Even the teachers are feeling it" she said, looking thoughtful.  
"Snape" said Harry suddenly "what about Snape?"   
Hidellbank laughed slightly, "Oh yes he's feeling it, hides it well mind. Why do you ask?"   
"I don't understand him" Harry said slowly "he's like some sort of puzzle that doesn't fit together well at all"  
Hidellbank laughed again. "A very accurate description Harry, excellent. I doubt anyone truly understands him, even Dumbledore. He's done a lot, seen a lot, helped a lot and been a miserable bastard since the day he was born apparently. A nice bastard though" She saw Harry raise his eyebrows at her, "Well, in his own special way that is" she corrected.  
  
Harry couldn't help but laugh and found himself walking down the corridor with Hidellbank for a while. She turned of towards Dumbledore's office after a short time though, leaving Harry alone again.   
  
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Harry had been walking for over 20 minutes when he realised where he was. He was by the steps down to the dungeons. He guessed something inside himself had brought him here. Part of him wanted to speak to Snape, to try and understand him and to see if he'd tell him any more information. He doubted Snape would appreciate his company though. A pang of anger shot through him for a couple of seconds. He despised the way Snape hated him because of his father, he'd never even given him a chance.   
Before he realised what he was doing he was walking down the dungeon stairs. When he reached the bottom he looked down the corridor where Snape's office and potions class lay. He stood there for a few seconds, contemplating his next action. Part of him was telling him to leave it and go to bed, the other part was telling him to risk it.  
  
He didn't get a chance to decide however as Snape came out the potions room and headed towards his office. The Potions master turned towards him, sensing someone was there.  
"Spying on me Potter?" he asked coolly.  
"No" said Harry calmly "If I was spying on you I'd be less obvious. Well...I hope I would be anyway"  
Snape leant against the wall by his office door. He was carrying a small bottle with a blue potion inside. He seemed to realise that Harry was looking at it curiously.  
"For the nerves Potter" he said, a vague smile crossing his lips "I'm stocking up on it before everyone wants me to make it for them"  
"It'll be on the dinner table next," said Harry, trying to keep the conversation light.  
"They can show the bloody house elves how to make it when that happens" Snape replied quietly.  
Harry could see that Snape was confused by his presence and lack of fear, maybe even relieved by it. Harry supposed that even Snape probably needed some sort of reassurance that he was at least vaguely trusted.  
  
"Why are you snooping down here anyway Potter?" said Snape suddenly, although not as coldly as he spoke.  
"Went for a walk sir, couple of things got me thinking about things and i ended up here. I guess I want to, well, part of me wants to try and talk to you about things" Harry said quickly, stuttering over some of the words.  
Snape looked half surprised and half confused and reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb. He then opened his office door and using his free hand gestured Harry inside.  
  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   
  
Harry had been in Snape's office before, usually to be told of though or as part of a detention.   
The room was fairly cold and contained a desk with two seats and a lot of potions equipment. Snape had walked over to his desk and put down the potion bottle on it. He scrunched up his face as if in pain and took a swig from the bottle, followed by a swig from a similar bottle filled with a purple mixture.   
Harry watched silently from the corner of the room as Snape again looked pained.   
"Are you going to sit Potter" he muttered, moving some of the instruments of his desk onto a table near-bye.  
Harry nodded politely and took a seat opposite Snape's. The potion master however, remained standing facing slightly away from Harry. He rubbed his wrist through his robes and Harry guessed his Dark mark must have been bothering him.   
Snape glanced at Harry and realised the boy had a look of concern on his face.   
"I'm alright Potter" he stated, turning towards him. He sat down, pulled up his sleeve and showed Harry his wrist. "Its burning, can you see? That's a sign that he's calling his supporters to him again. I told them I couldn't always come when that happened because it would look suspicious. I'm not sure if they believe me."  
  
Harry looked at the mark glowing against Snape's pale skin. He swallowed, took a deep breath and began to speak.  
"I saw Malfoy in the corridor by Gryffindor before. Hidellbank made him leave, but she said something strange, something about everyone's hope that Draco Malfoy would come good...I...well I'm totally lost sir and I need answers. Hidellbank said that Lucius Malfoy had killed her father and Ron's talking about Hogwarts probably being the last point of defence and, and, and I hate just sitting here doing nothing."  
Harry didn't know what had got into him; first he came to talk to Snape, now he was just blurting stuff out at him.   
  
Snape stood up again and faced away from Harry.  
"Calm down Potter" he said firmly, his back still turned.   
"Lets start with the Malfoy's shall we? As Sirene said, were all hoping Draco Malfoy may not turn out like his dad. You see, Lucius finds Draco pathetic and weak and regularly proves to Draco that he is weak"  
"He beats him" cut in Harry calmly.  
"Yes" answered Snape, "Draco is scared of him. Insult his father and he takes it, insult his mother and…"  
"He goes mad" cut in Harry, I did it once. Snape nodded,  
"He's not all bad Potter, I can see that, not saying he's all good though. That is clear to see."  
  
Harry nodded at Snape, and from the silence he realised Snape had finished on that subject. Harry stood up and moved to stand next to the potions master who was staring up out the window, which was high enough to be above ground and provide some light to the dreary room.   
"And Professor Hidellbank sir?" Harry asked quietly, staring up at the window too.  
"Is an ex student, very gifted at everything, a bit like Granger except less irritating. She's been in Romania for a while, working with the dragons with Weasley's brother and terrorising vampires and such like in the wild there."  
Harry was surprised to hear a slight softening in Snape's voice.  
"I'm glad she's here" Snape said calmly, "She's very relaxed, wont panic or anything. We need that."  
"Her father?" asked Harry dubiously "was he an auror or something?"  
"He was" said Snape "Lucius killed him because he had a muggle wife, she witnessed the killing so Sirene knew who'd done it. Couldn't pin him for it though because the wife only heard his voice, didn't see him"  
  
Harry was going to speak but then stayed silent. The pair of them stood in silence for nearly a minute Harry reckoned before Snape spoke again.  
  
"Harry, about what Ron said. I know it sounds bad, it is bad i suppose, but Dumbledore will figure out what to do."  
Harry nodded at Snape but couldn't hide the look of surprise on his face. This made Snape laugh.  
"I know your first name HARRY Potter, i just chose not to use it" Snape looked amused again thought Harry, watching a smirk cross the potion masters face.  
"Now Potter" said Snape "its late, you better get going"  
Harry nodded and turned to leave. He'd only gone a couple of places before he turned back to face Snape.  
"Thank you" he said simply, but before he could turn away Snape spoke again.  
"Oh, Potter, do you like butterbeer?" He asked, Harry nodded and found a massive bottle of the stuff floating towards him. He caught it and looked back at Snape confused.  
"So do I" muttered Snape "reacts badly with the special pain killer for this bloody dark mark, made me turn a nice shade of lilac yesterday"  
Harry stifled a laugh at the idea of a lilac Snape looking seriously pissed of with the world.  
"Thank you sir" Harry said, forcing back a smile.  
"Yes well go away will you" Snape said in what was nearly embarrassed tone "and if I here you laugh when you get outside this office I'll take 10 points from Gryffindor"  
Harry managed not to, just about and was strangely relieved that Snape was still pretty damn miserable when he wanted to be. Perhaps it was comforting to have at least some things remaining constant.   
  
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	5. Learning Defence

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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (part 5)- Learning Defence  
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Harry returned to the Gryffindor tower at 12.15pm and was mildly surprised but relieved to find no one up. Or so he thought. He'd only got to the bottom of the stairs leading to the boys dormitories when he realised this wasn't the case.  
"Harry, where have you been?" Hermione's voice cut into the silence. Harry turned to find Hermione and Ron standing by the fire, they must have been sitting in the armchairs facing away from him when he came in.  
"For a walk" he replied curtly.  
"That we already know" replied Ron, giving Harry a slight smile, "you've been ages"  
Harry nodded, "needed to clear my head."  
This seemed to be all the reply they needed as they both nodded.  
"What's that Harry?" asked Hermione, looking at the bottle in his hands.  
"Butterbeer" replied Harry; it was half empty now, as he'd been drinking it on the way back to the tower.  
"Cool" said Ron "where did you get it?"  
"That's my secret" Harry said, giving them a smile. He doubted they'd like hearing that Snape gave it to him. Actually, he doubted they'd like the idea of Harry going to talk to him, that's why he'd not told them.  
"Well, night" he said, breaking the silence before he carried on up the stairs and went to bed. It was several minutes until he heard Ron come into the room and get into bed.  
  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
  
The next morning on the way down to breakfast Harry told Ron and Hermione about his meeting with Malfoy in the corridor the night before. He stopped the story before the part where Hidellbank said about hoping Malfoy would come good though, and certainly didn't tell them about Snape. He needed to process these things in his own mind before telling his friends.  
Breakfast was a fairly quite affair and Harry could see what Snape meant about everyone looking stressed and worried. The atmosphere was almost tense in the great hall. Ginny managed to keep conversation alive on the Gryffindor table by talking about Hogsmede. She'd never been before but she could now she was a third year and there was a trip planned for Saturday. However, Harry was unsure whether Dumbledore would let him go or not.   
Fred and George Weasley told he about the joke shop there, but even they were fairly quite. Ron didn't say a word until after they had finished eating.   
"We've got defence against the dark arts today, after lunch. I reckon she looks like she'll be a good teacher"  
"I think so" said Harry, nodding as he said it, "Sn...Everyone thinks highly of her"   
Harry was relieved he'd stopped himself saying that Snape thought highly of her because they'd ask questions. Hermione smiled, Harry didn't know whether that was relief that Ron had spoke or the fact she was looking forward to lessons. Knowing her it was probably a mix of both. To be honest, he was looking forward to it. He wanted to get going with these lessons although the idea of having Slytherin there was not fun.  
"Malfoy'll probably try hex us," Hermione muttered. Harry grinned; it was like she had read his mind.   
  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
  
The morning had passed fairly quickly. Hermione had been in the library for most of it whilst Ron and Harry had played chess. Then all three of them had gone to see Dobby the House Elf in the kitchens. He seemed very happy to see them and had given Harry socks he had made him. They were ghastly odd socks, one yellow, one orange, but Harry said thank you anyway.  
Lunch had gone similarly fast although the conversation had got a bit silly after Ron had reminded them of Malfoy the ferret. In fourth year, the impostor of mad-eye Moody had turned Malfoy into a ferret and bounced him of the walls. It was a great memory and one that made it a lot easier to deal with Malfoy by just reminding him of it.   
  
So the trio found themselves walking to the Defence against the dark arts classroom albeit 5 minutes before the start of the lesson. They were surprised to find Professor Hidellbank already there.   
The classroom was very different from the year before. All the desks had been pushed to the side against the walls and there was a large mat covering the floor.  
"I take it this is a practical?" said Hermione, glancing round the room.  
"Hidellbank nodded, "tried to get Snape down here to practice hexes on but he wouldn't have any of it. Got us a horrible goblin instead."   
All three of them raised their eyes at that comment and she smiled at them.   
"Where not doing them today actually, its some basic stuff like blocking spells and spells that push people away. All very useful." she continued "you can put your bags down on the desks on the left"  
  
It didn't take long for everyone to arrive and Harry was impressed to see that the Professor had separated the two houses bags onto different sides of the room. Very sensible of her he thought to himself, very sensible of Malfoy to as he was keeping well away from himself and the Professor.  
  
"Right, now i have your undivided attention I want you to sit on the mat and listen" Began Hidellbank. Everyone immediately sat down.  
"Excellent, right, as you all know I'm here to teach you how to defend yourself from anything nasty...that is if you wish to" she glared at Malfoy "Today we're starting with a simple blocking spell which will protect you from attackers. Of course, it doesn't work against close up, but it gives you the chance to run whilst being fairly protected or fight back"  
She looked round at them all and pointed at Neville.  
"Longbottom right?"  
He nodded, looking pretty terrified.  
"Great, get up here"  
He stood up nervously and stood by her.  
"Know any hexes?"  
"Erm...yeah" he stuttered  
"Doesn't mean he can do 'em" muttered Malfoy from the back.  
"Maybe you'd like him to demonstrate one on you Mr Malfoy" she said coldly, shutting him up immediately.  
"Right Neville, I want you to try and hex me after I've done this spell ok"  
He nodded several times and raised his wand, waiting.  
"orv shieldus" she said calmly and Neville put the Jelly legs hex on her to no good effect.   
She smiled at him and nodded back to his place.   
"See?" she said "a useful shield. Now, you can try one by one and I'll hex you and see if it works"  
  
She did exactly that and to Harry's amusement both Crabbe and Goyle failed to produce the shield first time round. For a few seconds Crabbe went purple and Goyle had jelly legs.   
Neville's didn't work first time round either but she merely gave him pink hair. Obviously she was trying to be kind to him and give him confidence Harry thought, which was good.  
  
They did a simple block that deflected wizards and witches getting too near for the second half of the lesson. This provided some entertainment as Ron's block was actually very strong and deflected poor Hermione several meters. Although he looked apologetic he was obviously quite proud. Harry had pushed poor Neville back into the wall with his block whereas Harry was moved all of 30 cm by Neville's. Neville seemed too happy with the fact it worked at all however to care about how far he could push him away.  
  
The end of the lesson came and Harry found he didn't want to go which was pretty unusual for him. The trio where the last three in there though as Hermione seemed keen to wait and talk to the new teacher.  
"Professor, are we going to do any strong blocks, like the one's around Hogwarts in this lesson?" asked Hermione cautiously.  
"No, not in the class lesson. To many....erm dubious people, we'll be doing it in your extra lesson" she replied calmly, "Snape told me your an avid reader and would probably want a book, so I took the liberty of finding you the best one."  
Hidellbank opened her desk and passed her a fairly tatty black book.  
"Its my copy so don't lose it, but its a good book, its for people going on to study the subject after school, so its very concise and has more than you'd usually learn in."  
  
Hermione looked delighted and thanked the Professor profusely.   
"You've got a private lesson tonight at eight Harry if you want one" she said, "Dumbledore said you might like a few, thought you might like to get going pretty quick and all"  
"That's fine" said Harry, "I'd like to get some practise in"  
"Good lad" the Professor muttered "Now go on, you'll be wanting to get ready for dinner"   
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
  
On the way back to the Gryffindor tower Harry was delighted to see Remus Lupin. He'd only seen Lupin and his uncle, Sirius Black, once, and that was in Dubledore's office.  
"How are you doing Harry? Ron Hermione?" he asked, sounding very happy to see them. They all told him they were fine and this seemed to make his already large smile grow.  
"Marvellous!" he exclaimed heartily "I'm so glad to see you all, i was hoping i'd run into you. Sirius and I would have come to see you earlier but we've been so busy with everything. We wont be back for a few days now Harry though, we need to go fetch a couple of people still and so on"  
Harry nodded, but he was a little disappointed.  
"When we come back though, were organising a nice lunch for the five of us, maybe seven is Dumbledore and McGonagall want to join us" Lupin said, looking rather hopeful.  
"Sound's great" piped in Ron enthusiastically, which made Lupin laugh.  
"Very good" said Lupin happily; "I'll be seeing you all then"  
With that he strolled of down the corridor towards Dumbledore's office leaving them to make their way back to the common room and get changed for dinner.  
  
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	6. Memories

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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (part 6)- Memories  
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Dinner seemed to float by for Harry, he'd spent the whole time thinking about the Defence against the Dark Arts lesson and the upcoming private lesson with Hidellbank. Hermione and Ron hadn't seemed to notice amazingly much though, ever that or they both decided not to comment. Anyway, they seemed to busy deep in conversation with each other to notice. Harry had noticed that they'd been very friendly since they'd returned to Hogwarts and after some of last years 'moments' Harry was convinced they liked each other. Neither would say anything about it of course, but he could tell. Ron had been too angry about Krum in year four and she had been to angry that he hadn't asked her to the ball first.   
Hermione's eye's flickered slightly and she blushed, Harry had no idea why, he hadn't been listening, but that was a just another sign of her feelings as far as he was concerned.   
"We should go really, everyone else is" Ron was saying as Harry tried to get back into the conversation.   
"Yeeeeaaah" said Hermione, her voice was almost lazy.  
"Yeah" repeated Harry, but in a normal, non 'oh Ron' kind of way.   
"You've got your lesson in 20 minutes Harry" said Hermione, "I hadn't realised we'd been in here for that long"  
Harry glanced round the great hall and realised it was virtually empty apart from them and a few Hufflepuffs.   
They stood up and headed back to the common room so Harry could get a jumper as it was fairly cold inside the castle.  
"What are you going to do whilst I'm gone?" he asked politely, although he wanted to add 'flirt' to the end of the sentence.  
"Oh, I think I'm going to make him look through that book with me" said Hermione "either that or go for a walk...then look at the book"  
Harry glanced at Ron so he could read his expression but Ron simply shrugged at him. Obviously he didn't mind what they did thought Harry, although Ron was probably interested about the book due to the topic.  
  
"Well," said Harry, clasping his hands together "To the Dark Arts class room"  
The other two said goodbye to him, as did Fred and George who were sitting near bye planning something. Probably something to do with their joke company Harry thought, he hoped it was going well after giving them all that money last term after the - he decided he didn't want to think about it, he'd been doing well blocking that bit of last year out of his head. He closed his eyes to regain his composure then made his way to the classroom.   
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   
  
Harry was a little early again for his lesson and this time he found himself alone in the room until the Professor turned up a few minutes later.  
"Evening" she said, her voice was friendly, he couldn't help but notice every time he spoke to her, it was almost relaxing.  
"So Mr Potter, due to the fact you cant really practice on anyone I've brought us something to help." She pointed at a large teddy bear on the desk. Harry's eyebrows must of shot up because she laughed.  
"Don't look at it like that Harry! It's enchanted, so it reacts like a human would to whatever you do to it. Well...I wouldn't know about most things...reacts to spells though"  
Harry raised his eyebrows again at the last comment; you could tell she was young compared to the other teachers.   
  
"Right Mr Potter" She said, humour in her voice, "you're going to make that teddy immobilised, don't care how, whatever way you know"  
Harry wanted to tell her it was a teddy, and therefore already immobilised, but he bit the comment back.  
"Petrificus Totalus" he said, and the teddy froze.   
"Excellent" said Hidellbank, "that's the simple one I'd use. However, Death Eater's are more difficult to deal with sometimes. So, I want you to try this one, you say Endus Totalus"  
Harry tried it on the Bear and well, it didn't move...although it wasn't moving anyway. Hidellbank pocked the teddy and it didn't move at all. She turned and nodded, looking pleased with him.  
"Right, now I'm going to teach you a really powerful spell that pushes people back. You'll be doing easy stuff in the other lessons, I might as well show you the harder stuff because I think you can manage it."  
  
So, after half an hour perfecting his technique at this spell the Professor said that was enough practice.   
"Right, do you want to do 10 minutes of hex practicing, just to keep you on your feet"  
  
Another 10 minutes later and she'd shown him three new hexes as well as allowing him to practice some older ones.   
  
"Anything else you want to do tonight Harry?" she asked him. Before he got a chance to answer however the door opened.  
"Professor Snape" she said warmly, "come in"  
"I was going to anyway," he answered curtly. he walked over to the two of them and looked at the teddy.   
"I take it no one agreed to be Potter's rag doll?" he asked, giving the bear a contemptuous look.  
"The bear did" she replied sarcastically. Harry smiled at the comment and looked up at Snape, waiting for a reaction but none came.  
"Oh for gods sake, hex me Potter" Snape muttered, and walked towards were the bear was.  
"P...pardon" stuttered Harry.  
"Hex me, you need practice on a real person too" explained Snape, his voice lost none of its edge though.  
Harry nodded and tried out one of the new hexes on Snape and grimaced when Snape went down in pain.  
"Excellent" came a muffled voice from the floor, and Snape stood up again, "Next"  
  
Two new hexes later and Snape looked rather pained. He pulled himself up of the floor using a desk and flexed his muscles to relieve the aching.  
"Right, now then Harry, have you tried the Imperius curse, it can come in useful when fighting more than one death eater as it can take some out of the picture when your fighting them. Just make them sleep or cartwheel or something."  
Harry looked at Snape like he was mad but Snape didn't move from the spot.  
"Erm...no, but i can try" he said, a hint of nerves in his voice.  
"Good" muttered Snape "Just don't make me do anything to stupid Potter"  
Harry nodded and raised his wand at Snape and shouted "Imperio!"  
There was silence and Snape just stood there like he was in a trance. Harry racked his brain for something to make Snape do and then he hit something.  
Sure enough Snape stepped foreword and put his hand on his heart,  
"I Serverus Snape would like to admit that although Harry Potter annoys me something rotten he's not really that bad...you little Gryffindor bugger you"  
The last bit sounded forced, obviously Snape was fighting it.  
Hidellbank flicked her wand next to him and Snape returned to normal.  
"You did well fighting that Snape" she said calmly, "his magic is strong"  
Snape merely nodded and turned to Harry and stared at him. It made Harry uneasy when Snape didn't look away. He raised his eyes at Snape, a gesture he hoped would either make Snape look away or at least say something. It seemed to have the desired effect.  
  
"Its just past nine" he said, looking now at Hidellbank.  
"Yes, yes" she muttered, "we'll call it a day. Well done Harry"  
With that she gave Harry a pleasant smile and walked out. Harry was left standing there alone with Snape. Before this year he may have found that a completely horrifying idea, but now it was only mildly scary.  
  
"I expected you to make me dance or something Potter" Snape said coolly. He had now resumed staring at Harry.  
"Well you said nothing to embarrassing" Harry said calmly, staring back at the potions master. Harry didn't know what he expected Snape to say but it wasn't what came next.  
"I want you to be careful" Snape said seriously "I know your very attached to that invisibility cloak of yours but you must not go wandering were it may be unsafe."  
"I wont" Harry said honestly, "I have no major desire to get myself killed, or for that matter, get myself transported somewhere to be killed"  
Harry felt his left eye twitch and it was clear Snape had noticed this too   
"Potter, come with me to my office" Harry knew this was not a question, it was an instruction.  
  
So, after a silent walk to the dungeons Harry found himself in Snape's office for the second evening in a row.   
Snape had walked over to a cabinet to the left of his desk and was now leaning on it, staring at Harry thoughtfully. Harry stood nervously in the centre of the room glancing from his feet to the Professor and then back at his feet again. The silence was horrible and Harry wanted to say something just to create some sound.   
"I want you to tell me about the third task last year"   
Well, Harry hadn't expected Snape to ask that and he didn't have a clue how to answer the question without showing emotion.  
"Well sir, Ced...Ced...Cedric and I," Harry found himself choking on the name "Well, we reached the cup at the same time so we decided to grab it at the same time because either way it was a victory for Hogwarts and we'd helped each other a bit. It was a portkey though, and we found ourselves in a graveyard by the Riddle's graves. There i witnessed Cedric being killed and Voldemort being brought back to full form. We duelled, but because our wands are made from the same tail feather of a phoenix something strange happened. I escaped with Cedric's body."  
  
Harry closed his eyes as he finished the sentence and waited for Snape to reply. He hoped the potions Professor wouldn't ask him for more detail because he was struggling, struggling to hold back tears that had been threatening to come every night since it happened.  
  
Snape reached inside the cabinet and threw something at him, commanding him to catch it. Harry realised what it was as it was coming towards him and he caught it in both hands. He wanted to cry out but he could not, he found himself unable to do anything but stare at the object in his hands, the tri-wizard cup.  
"That was very trusting Potter" muttered Snape  
"Why?" said Harry, his voice desperate, "Why show this to me?"  
"The boy-who-lived had to watch someone else die. You see Harry, i understand that you have so much pent up emotion inside of you that you're finding it difficult to function and part of you is drifting away and phasing out. You need to let those emotions release. Let all the Hate and Tears and Fear inside of you out Harry or you'll be consumed by it"  
  
Harry felt tears burning his eyes and slide down his face and he found himself being guided into the chair by the desk. Snape kept his arm on Harry's shoulder briefly before turning and sitting in front of him on the desk.  
"Stop calling me the boy-who-lived" said Harry suddenly, his voice muffled due to the tears.  
"I'm not just some kid who was luckless enough to have his parents killed by Voldemort and then somehow weakened him. I'm not just that, even if that's all the wizard world sees. You seem to think that I love the 'fame' when all I get from it is hastle and some lunatic on my back. I can't even fit in peacefully to the muggle world, as my Aunt and Uncle want me as dead as Voldemort does. Here you are thinking I'm set and you don't know the half of it"  
Somewhere towards the end of the rant Harry had found himself trying to uncontrollably hit Snape but the potions master had him firmly by the wrists and Harry was getting nowhere.  
"Your angry" said Snape, his voice the epitome of calm  
"Yes"-shouted Harry, still trying to fight.  
"You despise Voldemort"  
"Yes"  
"Do you hate me?"  
"No"   
"Then why Mr Potter are you trying to hit me?"  
With this Harry stopped struggling and shook his head, backing away from the Professor.  
"I'm sorry, I..." Harry's voice faded.  
  
"Harry," said Snape seriously "Don't give up. Once Voldemort his dead things will get better but we need you Harry. I hate to admit it but we do. You're a symbol of hope and success. You make the wizarding world see that he can fall and we can make him fall again. Some fools in the Ministry of Magic may turn their heads and act blind to the situation but many are willing to fight. While Dumbledore and you are alive hope will never fade, never die. You see Harry we value you because you're the boy-that-lived, but you're also the boy that refuses to give in. Your strength is what the mass admire."  
  
Harry was stunned by Snape's words and felt rather silly for his outburst. The potions master made no comment on Harry's actions though and merely handed him a tissue before staring at him thoughtfully again.  
  
"You dream about it don't you Potter? It never seems to go away?" said Snape suddenly, his voice softened considerably as he said these words. All Harry could manage was a weak nod but Snape had obviously seen it. The potions master moved away from Harry to the cabinet again and took out a small bottle with a green liquid inside.   
He pushed it across the table to Harry and picked up the tri-wizard cup that had fallen to the floor during Harry's outburst. Harry hadn't noticed he'd dropped it but made no comment and instead chose to look at the bottle in front of him.  
  
Snape walked to the back of the room again, with his back to Harry.  
"It's a dreamless sleep potion Harry, works very well but tastes vile" Snape turned back towards him, "Take two sips before you go to bed every night and you'll sleep peacefully."  
  
Harry picked up the bottle and turned it in his hand, unsure of what to say.  
"Can I go now sir?" he said quietly, just loud enough to be heard.  
"Yes you can" said Snape, equally as quite "sleep well."  
Harry was half way across the room by the time Snape said this but he turned to look back at the potions teacher nodding at him politely. As he was leaving the room he felt very confused although he felt lighter, like some of the weight on him had been lifted.   
  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
  
Harry had not been gone for more than a minute before Snape heard a nock at the door. He didn't turn to see who it was; he merely stared out the window at the nighttime sky.  
"Harry?" he asked as the door creaked open.  
"Close, although I'm a little older" came the reply of Albus Dumbledore. Snape turned round to face the headmaster and smiled.  
"Well you can see how I made the mistake."  
Albus laughed heartily at him and sat down in the chair were Harry had been minutes before.  
"I see our young Mr Potter visited you again tonight" he stifled a smile "Seems to be getting awfully attached to you"  
Snape raised an eyebrow at the older man and turned back towards the window.  
"I wouldn't say attached. I think he just needs some answers and an adult to talk to. I imagine he'd talk to the Sirius if the mutt was still in the castle."  
It was Dumbledore's turn to raise his eyebrows now. He made no comment about Snape's referral to Sirius Black as a mutt though, deciding to leave the topic for now.  
  
"Whatever the reason I'm glad he's happy to talk to someone about things. I see you gave him the dreamless sleep potion, wise idea," said Dumbledore, looking up at Snape over his glasses.   
Snape turned back towards the man and stared at the table in front of him, rubbing his forehead with his thumb.  
"You look under immense pressure Serverus" Albus stated, "I'm glad Harry's talking to you but don't take the weight of his problems on with your own."  
Snape wanted to tell him that it was too late for that but he chose to stay silent. He could feel Dumbledore's gaze fixed on him but didn't want to make any form of eye contact with him in fear of being easily read.  
"Serverus, there is something your not telling me" stated Dumbledore but he gained no response from the younger man before him. Snape lifted his head and made eye contact with him.  
"No, nothing. I'm just worried about the situation as we all are" Said Snape, his voice giving nothing away.   
  
Albus stood up and looked at the window that Snape had been starting at so intently when he arrived.  
"Every time I come down here I see you look out there Serverus. I wonder why you never really go out that often. It came to me last night that maybe you didn't feel like you deserved too." Snape made no reply.  
"You've paid time now my boy, you've done a lot of good and even young Mr Potter can see that in you. Don't lock yourself away any longer," Albus turned to leave.  
"I do not lock myself away," said Snape evenly, glaring at the back of the head masters robes. If Dumbledore had a reply he saved it, for he left the room in silence, leaving an angry Serverus Snape glaring at the door. The potions master grabbed the de-stressing potion on his desk and took a swig before flinging it across the room in temper. It shattered into pieces against the wall with a satisfying smashing sound followed by another as Snape crushed an empty bottle with his hand leaving a nasty gash across his palm.   
The pain seemed to carve him though, as his breathing slowed and he became visibly less angry. Marching over to the cabinet he took out a bottle of pain killing potion and poured it on his hand and put a simple bandage over the wound. He reached into the cabinet again and took a swig of a green liquid, very much like the one he'd given to Harry. He closed his eyes and swayed on his feet until a sudden pain ripped through his arm from his wrist. He pulled up his sleeve and looked fearfully at the dark mark burning green against his pale wrist. He knew at this time of night he would be expected to go but he would not. He would not go to die; he would not give Voldemort that pleasure yet.  
  
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Click below to review!   
Oh by the way, to those who have reviewed so far thanks and i'm sorry about the spelling mistakes, especially of names. I have no idea why but on random day's i seem to have mental blocks on spelling like 'Malthoy' and 'Voldamort' in the first chapter *hits self* and rather stupidly saying Sirius was Harry's uncle. I'm afraid i have little time to right fics so these crazy mistake's do occur...sorry :s !!!  
Also, some bits seem odd, like Neville's parents (in chapter 2 or 3 or whatever)and Snape's actions towards the end of this chapter, but, all will be revealed as the story goes on. The best is (by far) left to come, there's some great action in the chapter after next (when i post it, only the bare bones are written so far but with meat on i think it'll be great) and the story should get really exciting in the second half hich doesn't begin for a few chapters yet. So be warned, it's going to be a long one.  
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	7. Hogsmede

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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (part 7) -  
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The rest of the week had gone by without event for Harry and his friends. They had only had one class Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson and Duelling lesson and one private one with Professor Hidellbank as they had returned to Hogwarts midweek.  
The lessons had been just as fun as the first and duelling class had fallen into fits of giggles as Seamus had accidentally hexed Crabbe whilst trying to duel with Dean. Crabbe looked rather strange when he was a nice shade of blue with green boils appearing rapidly on his skin. Hidellbank had reversed it very quickly but Crabbe still had a bluish tint to him which, Madame Pomfrey had told him, would last for a couple of days.  
The private duelling lesson had moments of hilarity too as Neville had completely messed up an attempted protection spell and had turned himself into a squirrel. Hermione had perfected controlling the blocking spell and had Ron pinned against the wall looking fairly helpless. All in all it had been a good two days.  
  
Harry had not spoken to Snape properly since the night in his office where he had shown him the tri-wizards cup. He had seen him briefly in the corridor a couple of times and Snape had politely asked after his health before walking on, leaving Ron and Hermione thoroughly confused. Harry was grateful to him about the dreamless sleep potion, as he'd had two good nights sleep. However on Friday night he found it difficult to sleep as they were due to go to Hogsmede the next day and Harry was certainly looking forward to it.  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
  
Ron woke Harry the next morning and they were ready at lightening speed. Hermione was already waiting in the common room for them with an excited Ginny and Colin Creevey who was armed with his precious camera.  
"I'm going to take pictures of Hogsmede" he shouted to Harry, waving his camera towards him "I've heard it's great"  
Harry smiled at him and nodded, glancing at Ron he saw that his friend looked bemused by Creevey's excitement.  
Breakfast was a pretty noisy affair, especially with Colin gesturing madly and getting overly excited about the day ahead. Ginny was more outgoing than usual but certainly nothing compared to Colin.  
  
It seemed no time at all until they were at Hogsmede and Harry had to confess that he had no idea what the conversation had been about on the way there. He vaguely remembered Ron and Hermione tickling each other, Fred and George showing of their new inventions (something to do with broomsticks or so he thought he heard) and Ginny and Colin babbling on about sweets.  
Malfoy had walked past the carriage they were in and glanced in, he still appeared to be avoiding Harry though and the Slytherin kept on walking.  
  
The trio had managed to escape from the excitable fourth years after they'd been in Zonko's joke shop and Honeydukes sweet shop. They had spent the day looking in various shops and Harry had brought a new set of robes as he was becoming to big for his smallest set. He also bought a book on Quidditch manoeuvres, something he'd wanted to do since watching Krum in the world cup a year before.  
They had then gone to the tavern (the Three Broomsticks) and where now sitting around a small table in the corner of the room drinking butterbeer.  
"I was amazed Dumbledore let you come actually" Hermione was saying, "There's plenty of teacher's wandering around though, obviously he decided you'd be well enough protected."  
"Obviously" agreed Harry, glancing across the room at Professor Flitwich and Professor Sprout who were deep in conversation at one table. Hermione was right, there were plenty of teachers around. They'd seen McGonagall, Hagrid, Sprout and Flitwick within the last two hours and earlier in the morning Hidellbank had terrified them. She had leapt out on them to make sure they were staying alert and appeared to be delighted that she found three wands pointing at her.  
It seemed only Dumbledore, Filch, Madame Pompfrey and Snape were still at Hogwarts. Harry was amused when Snape walked into the tavern and headed towards him after the Professor had spotted him. It was very well timed thought Harry that just after Harry had thought he was at Hogwarts he had appeared.  
  
"Potter, Miss Granger, Weasley" Snape greeted as he pulled out the fourth chair and sat next to Harry. Ron and Hermione seemed speechless and said nothing although Ron managed a small grunt.  
"Afternoon Professor" said Harry, smirking at his Professor.  
"Very polite your friends Potter" Snape commented, "Had a nice day?"  
This question seemed to be completely directed at Harry as Snape had turned towards him.  
"Yes sir, once we escaped some very excited fourth years"  
"That wouldn't be that bloody Creevey boy would it? he just took a picture of me as I was walking here" Snape said, a slight growl in his voice. Harry wanted to laugh but somehow managed to hold it in.  
"He'd be one of them" he admitted, smiling at the teacher he once thought he really hated. It was a scary thought, but he didn't hate him, he was a complete pain sometimes but he was ok.  
"Do you mind if I say I'm surprised to see you here?" said Harry calmly, watching Snape's slightly twitchy demeanour.  
"Yes...no" muttered Snape, "I don't come often. I'm here to keep an eye on you so you don't go and get yourself in trouble as usual Potter"  
"Your caring sentiment warms my heart" said Harry sarcastically, taking another sip of his Butterbeer. He glanced across at his two friends to see them looking rather nervously at the table in front of them.  
  
"Does Dumbledore know you're here?" blurted out Ron, giving Snape a very cautious look.  
"I should imagine so Mr Weasley, the man seems to know everything." Snape replied sternly, "Why? Scared of me?"  
Harry was surprised at the question and the coldness in Snape's voice, it was something he hadn't fully heard for a few days. Snape went to stand up and leave and Harry felt a sudden surge of pity towards him. Before he knew what he was doing he grabbed the Professor's arm, making the older man turn and look at him.  
"You may have grown up Potter but they have not" Snape snapped at the boy, "I'll be over with Flitwick if you need me"  
Harry watched Snape storm away to the table with the teachers on and take a seat beside them. The potions master looked thoroughly unimpressed.   
  
"Well done Ron" muttered Harry, swilling the butterbeer round his half empty glass. Ron said nothing; he just stared at Harry as though he was in shock. Hermione's expression was similar to Ron's.  
"What?" asked Harry, temper rising in his voice  
"What?!" exclaimed Ron "What may I ask is with you and the slimy git being best of pals?"   
Harry took another sip of his butterbeer before answering.  
"We are not 'best pals' but were not enemies. For crying out loud Ron were all on the same side."  
"Says who?" snapped Ron, giving Harry a pretty impressive glare.  
"Says me and Dumbledore" replied Harry, his glare as effective as Ron's.  
"Harry, Ron," Hermione cut in "Calm down. Harry, can we really be sure about Snape I mean he was a..."  
"Death eater" Harry cut in, "Really? Funny enough I realised that. I also know that he was a spy for Dumbledore and still is."  
Both Ron and Hermione were silent. Ron shook his head at Harry, gulped down his butterbeer and stood up to put his coat on.  
"I'm going for a walk for half an hour till we go" he said, glancing from Hermione to Harry.  
"Ron..." Hermione tried to speak but Ron waved his hand to show he wasn't interested. This left Hermione with a decision, stay or go. Even though she paused Harry knew what she would do. He was constantly away from his friends, and they were moving closer together. It was no surprise when she gave Harry an apologetic look and followed Ron out of the tavern.   
  
  
Harry had spent the final half an hour of the trip in the Three Broomsticks on his own but it hadn't really bothered him. The train ride back was even worse than the train ride there because Hermione and Ron were barely talking to him and Colin and Ginny had again taken over there carriage and were still amazingly hyper. Every now and again there had been random explosions from items they had purchased at Zonko's joke shop. Harry had been immensely relieved to get back to Hogwarts and had even skipped dinner so he could be in the quite of his room for a while. He didn't go hungry though as Dobby had obviously noticed his absence and had brought him some scones, bread and a plate of meat and salad from the kitchens.   
Harry had ate and then gone for a walk, taking the Marauder map with him, as he usually did, just in case.   
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   
  
Harry had wandered all the way to the dungeons and there were still no signs of dinner finishing. He had no plans to visit Snape but out of interest he took out the map to see if his potions teacher was in his office or in dinner. What he saw on the map surprised him to the extent that he nearly dropped the map. Lucius Malfoy was in the school and was just outside Snape's office now, obviously Harry had just missed him. Harry couldn't help be curious however and he went down the dungeon steps waiting for the man to enter Snape's office. Obviously Snape hadn't opened the door so the man had just entered, and according to the map Snape had not moved from his desk. Harry crept over to the partially open doorway and tried to listen to the conversation. It was easy enough to do as Lucius was talking with a raised voice.  
  
"Ah Serverus, I see you're still alive" an evil grin crossed Malfoy seniors face, "The Dark Lord and I thought something must have happened to you...not answering his calls like that"  
Serverus glanced up from the parchment he was marking and smiled.  
"You and I both know Voldemort would know if I was dead or not. Besides, I've been busy, wouldn't want to make anyone suspect me would I?"   
Lucius let a short but evil laugh slip out and pulled his wand on Snape. The potions master was in trouble and Harry knew it, he took out his own wand, ready to help. Snape put down his quill and stared at Lucius.   
"Come to kill me Lucius, come to kill a fellow Slytherin like yourself. I'd have thought even that was below you" Snape sneered at the man in front of him.  
"You're no Slytherin Serverus, you're a spy, a filthy muggle lover like Dumbledore and you'll pay for trying to deceive the Dark Lord"  
Before Lucius had a change to attack Snape Harry stepped in and disarmed him with one quick spell.  
"Maybe, Mr Malfoy," said Harry bitterly "You should learn to either look behind you or shut the door on the way in"  
"Well well it's Harry Potter," said Lucius Malfoy jovially, suddenly making a dive for his wand. Harry however was too quick for him and knocked the man of his feet with a defensive spell Hidellbank had taught him.  
"Now, Malfoy" there was venom in Snape's voice "I wouldn't try anything to brave, Mr Potter here wants you dead...or so I've heard. We both know he's a bit to much for you to take on."  
Lucius had backed himself into the wall and looked like a cornered wild animal. He dived madly for his wand but disappeared before Harry got a chance to hex him.  
  
Both Snape and Harry stayed deadly still and silent, staring at were the man had been second's before. Harry found it odd that Malfoy was there, it was certainly taking a great risk, entering Hogwarts like that. Snape too looked deep in thought as the older man tapped his finger on the desk.  
"Did you want to speak to me Potter?" Snape asked calmly, showing no signs of fear about what had just happened.  
"No thank you Harry's then" said Harry sarcastically, receiving a glare from the potions master. "No, I did not come here to speak to you. I saw Malfoy come down he and followed."  
"Wonderful. You can go back the way you came," said Snape firmly.  
"You can be such a git sometimes" muttered Harry, turning to leave the office in temper.  
"Thank you" said Snape, loud enough to make Harry swing round to face the man, "I don't know why you bothered but thank you."  
"Maybe I think you'll do a better job of fighting Voldemort when not dead," said Harry firmly, giving his potion teacher an exasperated look before leaving.  
Snape did nothing to stop Harry leaving but he was worried about him. Somehow Lucius Malfoy got in and out of the school with ease, and if he could that meant that other parents/death eaters could too.   
  
Harry jogged most of the way back to the Gryffindor tower and went straight to bed, ignoring questions about where he'd been at dinner which had ended just minutes before. He lay on his bed in his clothes and tried to think about what had happened but he was tired, very tired. He found himself drifting of into sleep before he'd meant to. The dreamless sleep potion still in the cupboard by his bed, he'd not took any that night.  
  
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Hey, please review!  
If you hadn't guessed, our young Mr Potter is about to have a nightmare. This will lead onto the most exciting bit so far in the story... so, stay tuned!  
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	8. The First Fight

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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (part 8) - The first fight  
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i  
"Lucius, you have failed me. You will not fail me again"  
Harry stared at the man who had pretty much ruined his life so far. It was Voldemort. Somehow Harry knew this was a dream and Voldemort was not really there, but he knew what was going on was really happening.  
"No master" stuttered Malfoy, stumbling backwards a little.  
"I want Potter, Malfoy"  
"Yes sir, I'll get him, I'll..."  
"You'll do no such thing," replied the man angrily, "He's too strong for you. No, we must take away that which protects him for he is protected well."  
"But sir" interrupted Malfoy, "How can we do that with Dumbledore there he's..."  
"Dumbledore is an old fool," snapped Voldemort "He's already been wrong footed and the rest should be easy."  
Malfoy nodded vigorously at Voldemort and stepped further and further back, obviously he wanted to keep a distance between himself and a very angry Voldemort.   
"Fool" said Voldemort coldly, raising his wand.  
"Crucio!" he shouted, and Malfoy fell to the ground in pain.   
"Get up you fool and go. Take away what he now needs the most."  
Malfoy was running away now, towards the other death eaters who were waiting a safe distance away. He was running fast, he was clearly terrified, so very terrifi.../i  
  
Harry jolted awake suddenly and gasped. It was very early in the morning, still dark. Harry looked at the enchanted clock in the room to see that it was not yet 2am. Harry had no idea what to do. He had no idea of Dumbledore's password and he couldn't just rely on guessing. No, he needed a teacher, and fast.   
Before he even knew what he was doing he was dressed in his robes and shaking awake Ron.  
"Ron get up," he whispered as Ron opened his eyes. "Get dressed, get Hermione and then go fetch McGonagall and Hidellbank and take them to Dumbledore's office. No time to explain."  
Ron was out of bed in a flash and Harry charged out of the room and ran full pelt to the dungeons.  
He nearly tripped down the steps to Snape's office but just about managed to keep his balance.  
"Snape!" Harry shouted, as he knocked on the door violently. After a few seconds the door was flung open and Snape appeared, still in his normal robes.   
"What the hell?" snapped the older man angrily.  
"Sir I had a dream...well a vision. I get them." Harry started, his words muffled because he was out of breathe.  
"Voldemort told Malfoy off for failing but he's coming back. He said Dumbledore had made a mistake and that they needed to kill those who protected me to get to me."  
"Harry calm" muttered Snape evenly, resting his hand on the boys shoulder. "Dumbledore rarely makes mistakes..."  
"But he has" interjected Harry, "Malfoy walked straight in and disappeared out...you're not meant to be able to do that in Hogwarts sir. Something's wrong."  
"You think Dumbledore is in danger?" asked Snape, his eyes showing some sign of fear.  
"Yes sir, and you. Last year Voldemort said one member had ran and one would never return. That he'd deal with them. You're the traitor and he knows it."  
Snape cut Harry of by waving his hand at the boy.  
"We need to tell Dumbledore Harry, and quick," Snape said firmly "Come on."  
Harry again found himself running down the Hogwarts corridors, this time towards Dumbledore's office and with Snape closely in toe.  
  
They got to the staircase and Snape said the password, which happened to be butterbeer of all things. Hidellbank and Ron rounded the corner just behind them and followed them up the stairs.  
"Hermione's getting McGonagall" said Ron, as breathless as Harry. He looked like he was going to continue but he was cut of by the simultaneous entrance of Hermione and McGonagall from behind, and Dumbledore from inside the room.  
"What an earth?" muttered the headmaster sleepily, sitting in his chair and stirring at the assembly of people in his office. The poor man was still in his pyjamas.  
  
Snape pushed Harry towards the head master and Harry told Dumbledore of his dream and he and Snape explained what happened with Lucius Malfoy that evening.  
  
"Malfoy should not have been able to get in," stated Dumbledore, "Someone inside this school is tampering with the spell."  
"It'll be one of their children," muttered Snape, "Cant be Crabbe or Goyle because they are far to stupid."  
"That leaves about 6 other children in Slytherin with suspected death eaters for parents" said McGonagall from behind Harry.   
"Jesus," muttered Hidellbank "May not even be a Slytherin, weirder things have happened"  
Dumbledore nodded at her and ran his hand through his beard.   
Snape looked like he was about to make some sort of comment but instead he stumbled over in pain and grabbed his wrist.   
"They're near" he yelled, clearly in pain. No one needed to ask who he meant as the potions master pulled out a potions bottle from a hidden pocket and poured it on his arm to stop the burning. Before anyone could ask him anything Snape was running out the office, so they all decided to follow, including Dumbledore who had magically dressed himself in a second.  
  
When they had reached the outside of the castle they saw what Snape had been running towards. Through the gate they could see around twenty death eaters marching towards the grounds. Before anyone could stop him Snape was heading towards the gate saying he'd hold them off. No one seemed to try and stop him.   
"We haven't got much time, Snape will be in range soon and he can't stop them for long" yelled Hidellbank over the strong wind. It was cold. Harry had only just realised how cold it was, even with his robes on he felt naked against the freezing wind. It was dark too, he could barely see what was happening and if it hadn't been for the wooden torches the Death Eater's were carrying it would have been nearly impossible to see them. The wind was making it difficult to hear anyone speak and Dumbledore's instructions were barely audible.  
"Minerva, wake Sprout and Flitwick and begin putting protection spells inside the castle itself" shouted Dumbledore, "Sirene, you need to help me protect the walls and fast."  
Harry, Ron and Hermione stood there motionlessly for a few seconds. An idea hit Harry and he used a summoning spell to call his broomstick and Hermione's book that Hidellbank had leant her from their rooms. They came quickly and Harry threw the book to Hermione.   
"Ron, fly Hermione up to the owlry tower" Harry pointed up at the tower which happened to be the nearest to them.   
"You need to use the blocking spells on those Death Eaters, bide us and Snape more time" Harry instructed, trying to keep calm.  
Ron jumped on the broom and pulled Hermione on with him and flew as quickly as he could up to the tower.   
  
Harry ran over to Hidellbank who was putting up some sort of protection spell.  
"Ron and Hermione are going to use blocking spells to help Snape, what are you doing?" he asked urgently.  
"This spell will allow only those who leave the grounds now to return to it. Effectively blocking everyone else out" she explained "Just reinforcing it now"  
"Snape!" exclaimed Harry, "He's out of the castle!"  
"I know Harry but I need to protect the castle," she said, looking as worried as Harry. Harry could do nothing but nod before running to the front gate to check on Snape's progress. He glanced out to see that obviously Ron and Hermione were having some effect at delaying them but not stopping them advancing completely. To Harry's horror Snape was getting pretty knocked around as bits of spells reached him from that distance away and were having the effects of a fist fight on him. Harry could see cuts and bruises forming and it was clear he couldn't hold them of for much longer.  
Harry looked round to Hidellbank to see if she'd finished and she had. She was already making her way over but she'd never get out there and get Snape back inside again quick enough.   
  
"Accio Firebolt!" Harry yelled, summoning his broomstick back to him from the owlry.  
"Harry no!" yelled Hidellbank as Harry jumped on the broomstick and shot over the walls of the castle. He steered it down like he was doing the 'wronski feint' so he could get to the man quickly and stopped shakily next to the Professor as the wind was making the broom difficult to steer. The man tried to mutter something but Harry ignored him and tugged him onto the firebolt with him. Snape and Harry both raised their wands at the same time and uttered the same blocking spell. The effect was remarkable. Harry felt the spell run through him like blood through his veins and a bright spark of light occurred round the potions master and himself. The effect on the death eaters was just as amazing. They were all thrown back about 30 meters.  
Harry wasted to time waiting to see if any were about to get up, he flew up again towards the top of the wall and as he was heading down the other side to land by Dumbledore he felt Snape lean on him heavily, the man was clearly going to pass out. Harry straightened the broom and eased it down gently, jumping of whilst supporting the potions master on the broom.  
  
"Are you ok Harry?" Dumbledore shouted over the wind. Harry nodded and indicated to the unconscious Snape. Dumbledore had obviously already seen him and was waving Hidellbank over to take him to the medical wing. He instructed her to take Harry with her so he could be given a check up.  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   
  
Harry had been in the hospital wing for nearly an hour before he was properly left alone. Hermione and Ron had came down and hugged him to see he was okay but had been sent away by Pomprey because she wanted some peace in which to work on Snape's wounds. Dumbledore, Hidellbank, McGonagall and even Flitwick were commending him on his bravery but saying he was very foolish at the same time. Clearly Dumbledore had realised Harry was getting wound up and made everyone leave Harry and Snape in the hands of Madame Pomprey. After three quarters of an hour she'd finished fixing up the rather bruised and battered potions teacher and had left him, still unconscious, on a bed. She had then moved on to Harry and gave him a quick check up, declaring he was fine but she wanted him to stay there for the rest of the night so he could sleep in.  
Harry was pretty relieved if he was to be honest, he didn't want 100 different questions from the other students. He wanted sleep, and after Pomprey had given him the dreamless sleep potion, that's what he got.   
  
He woke up to find light seeping through the curtains and was surprised to find he'd slept until 10.26 am. He put on his glasses and glanced across to the bed next to him to find his potions master still fast asleep. The man still looked battered and bruised but after Madame Pomprey's careful ministrations he looked far better that he had earlier that morning.  
The room was empty apart from the two of them; Harry guessed Pomprey must be in her office next door. Harry stretched and got out his bed, be careful to not disturb Snape he walked over to the mans bed to check he was okay. Both of them were wearing the white and blue stripped medical wing pyjamas. Harry was used to seeing himself in them, he'd spent plenty of time in the medical wing during his 4 years of Hogwarts. He had never seen Snape in anything other than black or dark green though and it was quite an amusing sight.   
  
Obviously the potions master could sense people laughing at him whilst he slept and the man stirred, opening his eyes to reveal his cold black eyes.   
"Potter" he muttered sleepily "Ever I'm in hell or I'm in the medical wing"  
"If you look at what your wearing you may struggle to decide" Harry said calmly, giving Snape's pyjamas another look.  
"Oh lord," muttered Snape, glancing down "I'm going to kill Poppy"  
Harry laughed at his very dozy looking potions teacher and sat down in the chair next to his bed.  
"How are you feeling sir?" he asked once he was comfortably seated. Snape sat up and stretched.  
"Sore" replied Snape, "you?"  
"Oh I'm fine," replied Harry "I wasn't the one trying to take on an army of Death Eater's though"  
This seemed to jog Snape's memory and the man swung round so his legs were hanging of the bed.  
"Yes, but you were the daft one he came and rescued me Potter" he replied sarcastically "Very noble of you"  
"That's my pleasure" said Harry sarcastically, not surprised in the least that he had not thanked him.  
  
Before Snape could muster a sarcastic reply the door to Pomprey's office opened and Pomprey, Dumbledore, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black all came out.  
"Ah you're awake I see" said Pomprey disapprovingly "Well as you seem to be able to walk you can both go"  
Snape gave Harry a lop-sided smile that looked odd on the older man. Harry thought it must be a bit of the young Severus Snape from his Hogwarts days rearing its head. Somehow he could tell that Snape had been in the medical wing plenty of times whilst he studied here.  
"Well Potter" said Snape, distracting Harry's thoughts "I doubt your god father wants to speak to me so I'll be off"  
Everyone watched Snape summon himself a fresh set of clothes from his rooms and then spell them onto him. Dumbledore patted him on the back to show the man he was most grateful for his help the night before but no one said a word. Snape was nearly out the door before he turned back and looked straight at Harry.  
"Firstly Mr Potter, I never wore those embarrassing Pyjama's and secondly...thank you"  
Snape didn't wait for a reply before walking of. His words had made both Harry and Dumbledore smile and Lupin was suppressing one for Sirius' sake.  
  
Sirius rushed forward and hugged Harry and Harry was glad he was there.  
"Jesus Harry, you shouldn't be risking your life like that, not for HIM"  
Harry knew his godfather meant Snape so did not comment.  
"When did you get back?" he asked, changing the subject.  
"Only about 30 minutes ago" replied Sirius "Ran across a couple of Death Eater's trying to attack Hogsmede last night. I guess they thought they'd find some easy fun."  
Harry was shocked at the news and turned to Dumbledore.  
"Its okay Harry" said Lupin "No one was hurt, we frightened them away."  
"Well," said Dumbledore, catching their attention. "I believe we're having a meal tonight in my office Harry, Remus spoke to you about it I believe?"  
Harry nodded and smiled at Lupin and his uncle.  
"Excellent!" said Dumbledore jovially; "You're allowed to bring three friends so you can bring someone along with Mr Weasley and Miss Granger. Usual Dinner time."  
"Thank you sir" said Harry and he hugged all three men standing around him. Gathering up his belongings he left the medical wing to go see his friends.  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
  
Harry had no idea who Dumbledore expected him to bring with him along with Ron and Hermione. Obviously the headmaster had someone in mind though, Harry could tell by the way he had said it. So who did Dumbledore expect him to invite that Dumbledore didn't want to mention in front of his godfather. Harry had thought for a few seconds that Dumbledore wanted him to invite Neville, but he would have come straight out with that. Anyway, it would have to be someone who knew about Sirius. Snape. It had taken him from the medical wing to the common room entrance to realise it but Dumbledore had meant Snape. Sirius would not be happy, but may just bite his lip and be polite if he was Harry's guest. Dumbledore had plenty of bright ideas, although he could make his clues easier. He couldn't imagine how Sirius would react to Snape's presence, or for that matter Snape's reaction to the invitation.   
As the common room door opened he decided to put it to the back of his head until a bit later, Gryffindor tower was packed with people wanting to congratulate him and ask him questions about the night before.  
It was only during the telling of the story that Harry remembered the blocking spell that he and Snape had performed and how strange it had been.   
  
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*Insert random way of begging for reviews here! *  
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I enjoyed imagining it!  
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	9. The Meal

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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (Part 9) - The Meal  
  
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"A meal?" muttered Snape, "You expect me to go to a meal with your mutt and your two friends?"  
Well yes, this was going exactly how Harry expected it. Snape was looking at him like he was mad and Harry was starting to agree with the man. He'd spent the rest of the morning and lunchtime being hassled by every Gryffindor possible and then some of the afternoon being pestered by Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuffs. Although many of the Hufflepuffs didn't really speak to him at the moment because of Cedric's death. It was now late afternoon and Harry was trying to carry out Dumbledore's command...he wasn't doing to well though.  
"Yes a meal" replied Harry, "You know when you sit round a table and eat with people."  
Snape glared at Harry and paced away from his desk over to the window again. Harry decided this was a safety thing for the potions master as Harry couldn't read the mans expressions if he had his back turned to him.  
"Listen sir, it won't be that bad...Dumbledore will be there and so will I"  
"Excellent Potter" Snape snapped "I'll race you there."  
Okay, that sarcasm just royally pissed Harry of. He hadn't been mad at Snape for days but anger was starting to surface.  
"Oh get over it" Harry replied, his voice cutting enough to rival Snape's. "I'm not my father and you're not still a student here. Why don't you try and treat me like a human being rather than sticking some label on me because of my father. You've treated me like I was just Harry for the last few days so why don't you just carry on."  
  
Well, Harry was surprised at himself and Snape was silent. Harry was expecting some sort of angry remark and a impolite declining of his invitation. It seemed, however, that Snape enjoyed surprising people.  
"Well, well Potter" Snape began, "Behind all that Gryffindor shivery there's a bit of a Slytherin temper"  
"Well the sorting hat took its time to decide between the two so you shouldn't be so surprised," muttered Harry, glaring at Snape's back.  
"I hadn't realised that," said Snape honestly "What would James say about having a son who was nearly put in Slytherin!"  
"Oh forget James," said Harry, frustration in his voice. He stormed round to by Snape so Snape would have to look at him. "You're one of the only people here who sees through the Harry Potter rubbish yet you're stuck on something else entirely. You cant compare me to a man I never knew whether he was my father not."  
Snape closed his eyes and bit his lower lip.  
"Harry, me and your father and Sirius hated each other. Remus was almost like a mediator because he's tolerant of everyone. I wanted to be their friends originally, they seemed so happy and well...fun, I suppose."  
Harry wasn't expecting this and he leant back on the desk to show Snape he was settling down to hear the story. Snape turned back towards his desk and Harry and rubbed the back of his neck.  
"Anyway. They were not interested in befriending a Slytherin and only Lupin made an effort. It meant that for the first year or so that I sort of wandered between Slytherin and their group having no real friends in both. Then Sirius and James pulled that Lupin trick on me but luckily James pulled out of it and saved me."  
Snape walked towards the cabinet by the side of his desk and leant on it.  
"I was mad at them Harry. I went back to my common room and Malfoy, who was two years older than me was there with some friends. I told them what had happened and they told me I could be friends with them. I'd not had any real friends before so it seemed great but it became clear Malfoy was not amazingly nice. It was too late for me though Harry, once Lucius Malfoy has you in his grasp it's nearly impossible to let go."  
  
Harry had remained silent all the way through the story. Snape had wanted to be friends with his dad, which was a surprise.   
"You blame him for pushing you to Voldemort" stated Harry.  
"Yes" replied Snape, "I know I shouldn't have got involved with Malfoy but I never would have if James Potter and Sirius Black hadn't been so damn stupid."  
"James Potter" Harry stated calmly "Not Harry Potter."  
Snape turned back to the boy and extended his hand to Harry,  
"You're not your father Harry. I could never work with your father, I do so willingly with you."  
Harry smiled at the gesture and shook hands with the potion master. Obviously Snape needed to be shouted at to make him see sense thought Harry, making a mental note to himself.  
  
"Do you really want me to go to this bloody meal thing?" asked Snape, scowling slightly.  
"I do, as does Dumbledore," replied Harry, "You don't have to though."  
Snape crossed his arms and tapped his foot against the floor.  
"I'll come, but if Sirius Black starts to have a go then I'm going. It would be a waste of my bloody time arguing with the man all night."  
Harry grinned at his potions Professor and stood up,  
"Well then, both of us need to get ready. It's starting in less than an hour."  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione were outside Dumbledore's office 5 minutes early but the man was there to great them.   
"Ah, is there no other guest Harry?" he asked, looking mildly disappointed.  
"Oh there is," replied Harry "He's making his own way here."  
They followed the headmaster up the stairs into his office. There was a large table set up in the centre of the room, rectangular in shape. Sirius, Lupin and Hidellbank were already sitting round it. The trio sat down. Ron and Hermione were facing each other on one end next to Sirius Black a Remus Lupin. Harry and Dumbledore were next along and Hidellbank was at this point in time on her own.  
  
"I hope you've brought me a nice dinner guest," the Defence Against the ark Arts teacher said, glancing towards the empty seat. That was a point, were was Snape thought Harry. Surely the man wouldn't have shunned the meal, maybe he was just late. Or maybe he'd tried to poison himself so he didn't have to come.   
"Well" muttered Harry, "You'll be fine but I doubt Sirius will be."  
"Snape!" exclaimed Sirius, glaring at Harry. Well, obviously it was a good clue Harry had given them. There was a short silence whilst Sirius glanced round at Lupin and Dumbledore. Ron broke this silence by laughing and Harry was relieved as it took some of the tension away. Before Sirius could muster words to express how horrible the idea was, there was a knock on the door.  
"Come in" said Dumbledore politely, keeping one eye on Sirius. The door flung open and Snape marched in.  
"Sorry I'm late" he said coolly, "Some stupid first year fell down the dungeon steps whilst playing truth or dare. Had to have them sent to the medical wing."  
Snape sat down next to Harry and looked round the table. It was defiantly a tense situation and everyone was silent.   
"Did you take house points or were you content just to sneer?" asked Sirius, clearly unhappy with Snape's presence.  
"I thought my presence was enough of a punishment" replied Snape coolly, "They were running down my dungeon stairs to see who'd risk getting the nearest to my office after all."  
This made everyone laugh except Sirius who was still glaring straight at Snape.  
"I suppose you're here to play hero after last night?" Sirius said, hate in his voice.  
"As usual I believe that's Mr Potter's job," replied Snape evenly, still keeping his calm.  
"So what DO we owe your wonderful company to then Snape? Have you come to make us feel sick or are you here to spy on us?" he'd just pushed Snape a step to far.   
"If you think before you speak Sirius, which I know is rare for you, you'll find that I spy for Dumbledore against Voldemort not the other way round."  
"Or so you claim" snapped Sirius, leaning across Harry towards the man. Snape gave him an icy glare back and looked at Harry.  
"I said I'd stay if he kept his gob shut, so either put him on a leash or let me go" Snape's words were delivered in an icy cold voice. Harry clasped both hands over his face,  
"Will you both behave yourselves?" he half shouted, "Can you not sit at the table and at least ignore each other, even if you can't be sociable?"  
"Harry," complained Sirius "The mans a..."  
"The mans my guest and you cant even see each other properly unless you look, your on either side of me for gods sake." Harry sounded and looked exasperated. It had the right effect though as Snape remained quite and Sirius backed of put up his hands in defeat.  
"Excellent" said Dumbledore, finally speaking. "The house elves have sent up a menu to chose from so just pick the starter you want and say it out loud."  
Harry would have liked it if Dumbledore had tried to help him sort out the two S's but Dumbledore obviously had wanted Harry to deal with it.  
Whilst eating the starters everyone had been involved in private conversations. Sirius had been talking to Harry about Quidditch and blocking spells, Dumbledore and Lupin had been discussing potions for werewolves, Ron and Hermione were talking about well...everything. The pair took the longest to eat their food because they were talking so much. The only bit Harry got involved with was Ron's plans to try out for Gryffindor keeper. Hermione seemed to think this was a great idea and to be honest so did Harry; Ron was a pretty tidy flier. Hidellbank had been telling Snape about some of the creatures she'd came across in Romania and Russia. Snape had made some comments but he seemed content to just listen. Harry was hoping Hagrid got back soon as he missed the half giant. Also, Hagrid would love to hear about the creatures Hidellbank was talking about. If they were dangerous, overly large and non-pet like Hagrid loved them.   
  
Before they chose their main meals Dumbledore spoke up.  
"Before we tuck into our next course I must tell you something funny. I was speaking to the house elves earlier today about the meal and they put together a menu for me. Dobby, with the wonderful sense of humour he has, asked me a question about Sirius in fact. He asked me very politely if Sirius would rather eat normal food, or whether he should send up a bowl of dog food as well."  
Everybody laughed, even Snape.  
"Well," continued Dumbledore "I thought to myself, how would I know which Sirius would prefer. So, when the menu appears and it has a selection of dog foods in one section you know why its there."  
Lupin found this incredibly funny and clapped his hands; Sirius merely scowled at everyone's laughter but eventually saw the funny side of the situation. When the menu appeared and he'd looked through he declared he'd probably have the beef. Ron however, had obviously been looking through the entire menu and asked if that would be the beef with gravy, potatoes and veg or was it the beef dog food with added calcium. Poor Sirius went red as the table erupted with laughter again. God bless Dobby, thought Harry, he'd made the situation far less tense.  
  
After everyone had got their food they'd all calmed down somewhat, although Lupin looked like he was going to burst into laughter at Sirius any second. Poor Sirius was trying to tackle his beef with a knife and fork but obviously hadn't used either for a while and had slopped gravy down his front and sent a piece of carrot flying into Dumbledore's beard.   
Lupin, Sirius, Hidellbank and Dumbledore had managed to get into a conversation about the previous night. Ron and Hermione still only had eyes and words (it would seem) for each other and were discussing the weeks Defence Against the Dark Art's lessons. Harry had originally been part of the conversation about last night but he'd phased out somewhere along the way and was now just content to listen to everyone's voices.  
"You okay?" asked Snape, before taking a swig of his wine.   
"Yes I'm fine" he replied, "Just thinking about last night"  
Snape looked down at his empty plate, he'd finished his food.   
"Yes, I've been giving it some thought too," he raised his voice so everyone could here him "I'm going to get going now, got some research I need to do."  
Everyone said goodbye except Sirius who grunted, although Harry thought that that was a vast sign of improvement. Snape said to 'enjoy the rest of the meal' and strode out.  
  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
  
Snape's presence wasn't really missed at the meal, the tension completely lifted from Sirius and even Ron looked more relaxed. Or maybe that was just because Hermione was smiling at him. Yes, it was probably that. During desert Harry and Sirius swapped seats so he could sit by Ron and Hermione and the trio ordered a massive ice cream between the three of them. The bowl it sat on was about the same size as a bucket and was full of many scoops of multi coloured different flavours. There was vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, mint, cherry, raspberry, banana, toffee, caramel, peanut butter and many more. They managed to get half way through the bowl before giving up and considering the size of the bowl this was quiet an achievement.   
"Hermione" Harry gained the girls attention, "Have you ever read about two people casting the same spell at the same time and something weird happening?"  
"Like what?" she asked, leaning back in her chair and holding her stomach.  
"A weird light and like…energy running between them. Maybe even the spell working stronger" Harry tried to picture what exactly had happened the night before.  
"I take it you mean what happened last night with the blocking spell?" cut in Ron, "We saw it."  
Harry nodded and tapped his finger on the table. He wondered if Snape remembered it too.  
"I could go look it up in the library tomorrow morning," offered Hermione "We've got no lessons."  
"Yeah we can all go, be loads quicker" said Ron, attempting to eat another spoonful of ice cream. Not even Ron could manage more. "God I'm full," the red head muttered, slumping back in his seat like Hermione, "I'm going to be a little ball of ice cream fat tomorrow."   
Ron eloquent statement set Harry and Hermione of into fits of giggles. Possibly because they were tired, or possibly they were envisioning Ron as a little ball of ice cream. Their laughter caught the attention of the four adults around the table with them.  
  
"Well Mr Potter," said Dumbledore cheerfully "Its good to see you enjoying yourself"  
"Thank you sir" said Harry politely. Sirius grinned at Harry from beside him and looked like the stereotypical proud godfather.   
"Now, down to business" said Dumbledore calmly. "Remus, any chance you can run and get Arabella for me?"  
Remus Lupin nodded and left Dumbledore's office without saying a word. There was a short silence where Hermione and Ron looked at Harry uncertainly. None have them had been expecting this to turn into anything more than a friendly meal, the term business implied Voldemort and that implied trouble.   
"Nothing to serious Harry" said Sirius, looking round at the worried looks on the three students faces.  
"Not at all," clarified Dumbledore "I'm afraid we'll need to have a meeting some time early next week though. I just want you to meet Arabella first."  
"She's an old friend," explained Sirius "Part of the team all those years ago."  
Harry nodded again and looked round at Professor Hidellbank who looked fairly left out. She was to young to be part of the whole team and must have been a lot younger Harry was now when Voldemort was at his worst nearly 17 years ago now. Harry trusted her, even though history said that most new teachers were not to be trusted. He could just tell, like he could tell Lupin was a good guy. Although he had been fooled by the fake Mad Eye Moody.  
  
Harry was brought out of his thoughts by the entrance of Lupin and a woman who was obviously Arabella Figg. It wasn't Arabella Figg who lived across the road from him, which was something he had thought about. If it had been he'd have been tempted to throttle her for making him look at cat photo's for god knows how long.  
Arabella was fairly tall for a woman and made Lupin look a little silly standing next to her. Her robes were a deep purple colour but were plain. She had a fairly thin face and had long light brown hair and light brown/green eyes. She was not particularly attractive but she was not ugly and her pleasant smile made her look very trustworthy. Like one of those sweet old ladies you meet on muggle busses, just not as old.   
"Ah Harry Potter" said Arabella Figg friendly "I've heard that your a down to earth boy from my mother, but I've never had the pleasure of meeting you."  
Harry was brought out of his revere again and wondered who the hell her mother was. As if she was reading his thoughts she answered his question,  
"Oh my mother has the same name as me, loves cats, bit barmy well...more than a bit."   
"Your mums the women across my road!!!" Harry exclaimed "But she was hor....erm...I mean...she wasn't a witch was she."  
Arabella laughed at Harry's attempts to cover what he was originally going to say and Harry suspected that if he looked round everyone else would be smiling or laughing too.  
"She is, wouldn't have told you so though. She's a bit scared of admitting she's one...as I said, barmy."  
Well, she was barmy thought Harry, so that made sense. He glanced at Ron and Hermione to gage their reactions towards the woman. They both looked curious but they also looked a bit left out.   
"This is Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger," said Harry, pointing out his friends to Figg.  
"I guessed," she said, smiling at the both, "Nice to meet you too although I have met Ron before when he was very young. I know his father well through the ministry. Wonderful man."  
Ron looked proud at this comment. Ron fad always been proud of his father, as he knew he was highly respected by all decent magic folk and Harry liked him too. The Weasley family were fantastic, and Harry was glad most people appreciated them too.   
  
Dumbledore had now stood up again and was coughing to gain everyone's attention.  
"I think its probably time for Harry, Ron and Hermione to go" he said, smiling at them. "It's been nice having you all here and I'll send for the three of you when we have the meeting."  
The trio said their goodnights and Harry gave his godfather a big hug, before heading back up to Gryffindor tower.   
  
Before they reached the tower Hermione stopped.  
"We still have nearly an hour before we have to be back in the common room. Maybe we should go to the library and take out a couple of books. Look up what happened to Harry."  
Both Harry and Ron thought this was a good idea so they trekked to the library and Hermione collected an assortment of books she thought the answer could be in and they signed them out. They were back in the Gryffindor common room (with 6 very heavy books) plenty of time before the 9pm curfew.  
  
"Jesus Hermione it's going to take us hours to trawl through these texts!" exclaimed Ron, flicking through over 400 pages of solid text in a thick black leather book.  
"Well, Ronald Weasley the night is still young," replied Hermione playfully "Unless you have to be wrapped up in your bed before 11?"  
Well, thought Harry, Ron wouldn't let Hermione get the better of him. They were likely to be searching through the books until the sun came up again in the morning. However, if they found out what had happened during that spell it would be worth it.   
  
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Sorry it's taken me a few days to update, I've been sick and I've had a couple of mock examinations so I've found it hard to fit in time on this.   
It's not a great chapter but it's just a bit of a chance to get a feel for how everyone's reacting to everyone now. Later on some of that interaction is going to change and that should be clear in a later comparison type chapter were they are all put in a social situation again. Fear not though, there will be more action in the next thrilling instalment (ha ha etc). Oh and please review pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase.   
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	10. Author's notes

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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn- Authors notes 1 (between chapter 9 and 10)  
  
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Hey! Everyone, sorry it's took me such a while to update   
  
but i've had A level exams.   
  
Anyway, i'm going to get going again now but unfortunatly i  
  
couldn't finish before the new book came out.   
  
I've read it and its fantastic. So, i thought i'd use some of its developments in a different way in this so it can become a book five variation. This means that if i chose to i can write my own   
  
version of what books 6 and 7 could be like or leave it as a stand   
  
alone book 5 version. I'll probably see how the end of this one goes. Anyway, as i said, i'm writing again so i'm hoping to update at least   
  
once a week but possibly twice. Hopefully you'll enjoy where i take  
  
this fic and how i indroduce certain themes, charactors and aspects   
  
from the book into it. 


	11. Order of the Phoenix

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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (Chapter 10)- The Order of the Phoenix  
  
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Harry was awoken by a gentle tap on his arm. He opened his eyes and blinked at the culprit. He was slumped over one of the books on the desk in the Gryffindor Common Room with Ron and Hermione staring at him.  
  
"Mmmm" he groaned, "What time's it?"  
  
"Nearly 4am," replied Hermione "We better get to bed, its getting late"  
  
"Found anything?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes and blinking at her again.  
  
"Yup," replied Ron brightly "I found it!"  
  
Harry smiled sleepily at him, unable to understand how Ron was so awake. Hermione shifted in her seat and cleared her throat.  
  
"Well, we need to do more research on this but we know were to start now. We found a reference to an old form of magic, very powerful, but very rare."  
  
Harry waited patiently for her to get to the point and rested his chin on his hand to keep himself awake.  
  
"Well this magic, its called Concateno, its bond magic."  
  
"Pardon...BOND magic?!" exclaimed Harry loudly.  
  
"Shhhhh Harry" said Ron "You'll wake everyone."  
  
"Yes it's okay Harry, nothing bad. You see when a wizard saves another's life it creates a bond between the two. Usually this bond isn't at all obvious but with you and Snape it's different. Both of you have saved each other's life, or at least you were in the process of doing so when you cast the spell. This creates a firm bond, a powerful magic bond, I guess you could describe it as an honour bond."  
  
Harry looked at Hermione blankly then opened his mouth to speak...then closed it.... then opened it again. Both his friends seem bemused by this reaction as Harry struggled to formulate words. This was partly because he was surprised and partly because he was so damn tired.  
  
"You mean me and Snape may be able to do that kind of magic if we had contact with each other, like touching the others arm or something?"  
  
Hermione pulled a face at this question and shrugged.   
  
"To be honest Harry we have no idea yet, could be a one of, may not be. That's why we need more research"  
  
"Yeah mate," piped in Ron "We'll go to bed and get cracking on it again tomorrow in the library."  
  
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Harry woke up to find light glaring through the window at him. Dean, Neville and Seamus were already up and out but Ron was still asleep. Harry looked at the time and groaned. There was only ten minutes until breakfast started. He jumped up and shook Ron awake, telling him to get up and get ready quick. Ron did so with relative ease although he did look a bit tired.  
  
They met Hermione in the common room and they all went down to breakfast together as usual. They had no lessons until the afternoon, which Harry was relieved about, as they would have time to do more research.  
  
Before he'd had time to move on from this thought though his hopes were quashed as McGonagall approached them and informed them that their presence was required in Dumbledore's office at 10 am. Harry was half excited by the news yet slightly disappointed as it would leave them with only just over half an hour to research after breakfast.  
  
This was pretty much useless as by the time they had got to the library and found a couple of books the information could be in they had to go again. They signed the books out and ran them back to the common room (in Harry and Ron's room) for afterwards.   
  
So, at three minutes to ten they found themselves being escorted into Dumbledore's office by Lupin who had been waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.  
  
Dumbledore's office was packed with people, some familiar and some not. There was Sirius, Lupin, Figg, 'Mad Eye' Moody, McGonagall, Hidellbank, Snape, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill Weasley and surprisingly the Weasley twins and Ginny. There were about 5 other people whom Harry had never met.  
  
"Excellent," said Dumbledore loudly, rising from his chair, "Glad to see you're all here."  
  
"Various Weasley children, Harry and Hermione, meet the Order of the Phoenix."   
  
Dumbledore strode to the side of the room and turned towards them again.   
  
"Some people you know, some you don't. This is Nymphadore Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle and Mundungus Fletcher."  
  
Harry looked at each of them in turn and smiled politely. Each was very different from the other; they ranged from Tonks who had pink hair, to Mundungus Fletcher who looked like he badly needed a new set of robes. All five nodded at Harry and smiled at him in a curious way.   
  
"You like your father," stated Kingsley "Knew him well"  
  
The others nodded, except Tonks who looked far to young to have known his father well at all.   
  
"Well," broke in Dumbledore "You're all here to get an update on Dumbledore's activity's then the Order will have a meeting. I'm afraid you must leave for that students."  
  
"Why?" asked Harry firmly "And what is the Order of the Phoenix?"  
  
"So many questions Harry!" said Sirius from against the wall in the corner of the room. "The Order is a group of wizards devoted to fighting Voldemort. It was set up to fight him last time. It has re-united to fight him this time."  
  
Harry knew his parents must have been members but decided not to ask Sirius if this had been the case.  
  
"You cannot stay because you are not in the Order," stated Dumbledore calmly, "None of you are really old enough or ready enough to join."  
  
Harry felt a bolt of anger rising within him, he wondered if anyone in that room had done as much as him except Dumbledore. If anyone deserved to be in the Order that he did. He did not voice this complaint however and stared at the floor in an attempt to calm down.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore?" asked Ron timidly "May we talk about what's been happening now?"  
  
Dumbledore smiled at him and nodded, looking pleased to dispel the silence, which his answer had created from the children.  
  
Dumbledore turned and sat down again by his desk. He gestured at Kingsly Shacklebolt to speak. The man stepped forward slightly and cleared his throat.  
  
"Well, we've had few reports from other auror's of Death Eater activity. This may mean little as none want to believe he is back. The only major incident occurred here and then in the village of Hogsmede. There has been some smaller incidents however in secluded wizarding areas of either non-pure blood wizard deaths or the occasional muggle death. Very few auror's are truly on the watch out for Death Eaters yet though."  
  
After he finished he stepped back into line and Figg stepped forward.  
  
"There have been some reports in the muggle news of strange unaccountable deaths. These could be related to Voldemort."  
  
Next to step out was Lupin who explained the events in Hogsmede then followed by Hidellbank who explained what occurred at Hogwarts. Fletcher informed them that he had heard some talk from 'underground' traders that there has been some demand for odd weapons, potion ingredients and books that were unsavoury and difficult to obtain. Harry guessed this meant that it was possible that the Death Eaters were beginning to equip themselves to fight. This made an involuntary shiver run down his back and it was not until Snape's voice began until Harry realised someone else was going to speak.   
  
"Well I wouldn't know about books and weapons," Snape was saying "but I know potion ingredients are being obtained for me."  
  
Sirius gave a loud snort from the corner but Snape ignored him.  
  
"Anyway, there have been no major attacks yet because he's trying to regain strength and as far as I know none have been planned. However, it would certainly seem that Potter here is going to be getting the full attention of him sooner or later. Some fears have been raised though that he'll target myself or Dumbledore first"  
  
"Who's fearing you getting attacked?" asked Sirius indignantly, giving Snape as cold look. Remus Lupin shook his head at Sirius to tell him not to continue and Sirius, although irritated, said no more.  
  
There was a tense silence, which was finally broken by Dumbledore. He stood up again and gestured to Fred, George and Ginny.   
  
"I think the students should go now so we can have our meeting. I know you feel cut out but believe me; it's for your own good for now. All six of you will undoubtedly wish to join eventually and we respect that and will keep you informed. You are not ready yet though."  
  
The Weasley children and Hermione seemed to accept this straight away and all turned and began walking out the office. Harry however stood his ground.  
  
"Harry?" asked Dumbledore calmly, giving Harry a look of warning.  
  
"I don't see why I have to go. It will just be me that ends up taking him on anyway whether I chose to or not."  
  
The room tensed again except for Snape who smiled slightly at Harry's words.   
  
"Harry," said Sirius calmly "I wish you could be part of this but Dumbledore's right. Its not time yet."  
  
Harry was about to reply and tell him that if now was not the time then he'd quite like to see a better one. Something in his mind stopped him though and he just nodded hesitantly and walked off, well, more of an angry march to be precise. He was so angry that he passed his friends and carried on walking until he was out the way and on his own in the owlry tower.  
  
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The owlry was fairly noisy as the owl hooted fairly regularly but Harry didn't mind. After giving his owl some attention he sat down in a corner and tried to think. He couldn't understand why they were so keen to not include him in this, why Dumbledore and the rest were cutting him out. It made him angry, no it made him furious. It was him who saved the Philosopher's stone, it was him who saved Ginny in the Chamber of Secrets, it was him who helped Sirius his god father, it was him who though Voldemort the year before and it was him who'd lost both his parents and witnessed Cedric Diggory die. Everything was always him yet no one took him seriously, everyone seemed to be distant. Ron and Hermione were becoming better friends and Harry sometimes felt like a spare limb. Dumbledore seemed to have little interest in including Harry into his plans, Snape's personality was fluctuating like a sound wave and Sirius and Lupin were always so busy. It was all so irritating and frustrating. Harry wanted to spend more time with Sirius, wanted to get to know his godfather. Harry also wanted to understand Snape better and most of all, he wanted to be part of everything. He wanted to know exactly what was happening so he knew what risks he was in rather than having to be constantly on edge.  
  
Harry punched out at the wall in temper and the pain that shot through his knuckles made him calm down quickly. He ran his hand through his hair and stood up, deciding to return to the Common Room and stop thinking so much about it all.   
  
When he returned to the Common Room Ron and Hermione ran straight over. Both had obviously been worried about him but they did have good news.   
  
"Well!" exclaimed Hermione "We've done a bit more research and we've found out some interesting facts."  
  
"Yeah" Ron took over "That magic will work on contact with Snape but its not easy. Both have to be performing the same spell at the same time and it requires practise apparently to perfect it."  
  
Harry didn't know what to say to either of them. They both looked so pleased, like they'd discovered something really big. However, first Harry would have to convince Snape that's what happened; secondly they'd have to practise together and thirdly, if anyone in Slytherin found out then it could mean big trouble for Snape.  
  
"Great guys," said Harry unconvincingly "Well, I'm going to go get some sleep before lunch. Want to be wide awake for Defence lessons."  
  
With that Harry made his way upstairs, leaving Ron and Hermione very puzzled indeed.  
  
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Hey, sorry it's taken me so long to update but I've had A levels. I hope you enjoy it and please review if you have the time (or the desire) to.  
  
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	12. Understanding

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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (Chapter 11) - Understanding  
  
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Harry had not slept a wink in the hour before lunchtime, but when Ron came to get him he put on a suitable performance when being 'woken up'.  
  
Lunch seemed to last forever yet Harry could not remember a word of what was being said on the Gryffindor table. At some point someone had tried to include him in a conversation but had given up after they had got no response the few times they tried. Harry hadn't stopped being deep in thought since after the Order's meeting in the morning. His anger had died down and was now just a mild irritation. His desire to be treated like an adult by the two people he thought understood him was growing rapidly. Both Dumbledore and Sirius should have understood why he felt he should be part of the Order. He knew they had said that they understood but they clearly didn't or they'd not have cut him out so obviously. He felt that Lupin had possibly understood more but Lupin was the quite kind and was unlikely to openly oppose Dumbledore. Harry just hoped Lupin and Sirius were secretly trying to persuade Dumbledore into involving him more.   
  
A cough brought Harry back to the present again. He glanced up and realised that he'd been so far out of it that he'd walked straight past the Defence of the Dark Arts room and Hermione had tried to catch his attention.   
  
He backtracked sheepishly and joined the other Gryffindor's and the Slytherin's in the classroom.  
  
"Now we're all here we can get started" stated Professor Hidellbank lazily, spinning her wand in her hand whilst sitting on her desk. She seemed far more interested in her wand than the class in front of her.  
  
"I here you learnt a bit about the unforgivables last year," she continued calmly "I'm going to teach you some more."  
  
Most of the students bristled at the mention of the unforgivables and Hidellbank grinned. She jumped forward of her desk and waved her wand at Goyle, muttering the Imperius curse. Goyle froze in front of her and then to everyone's amusement she began to swish her wand like a conductor and Goyle began to sing. Harry didn't recognise the song, which could have been because he'd never heard it...or possibly because Goyle was that bad at singing. Not content to leave the demonstration at that, Hidellbank next made him dance whilst singing and after a minute or so she said the counter-curse.   
  
Goyle looked round the classroom truly horrified at what he'd just done. This made the whole class laugh but one person (apart from Goyle) was not.  
  
"I'm glad you find it funny," cut in Hidellbank "but imagine how you'd of reacted if I'd made him kill one of you not dance."  
  
There was silence. Complete and utter silence.   
  
"Makes you think doesn't it," she spoke calmly "How easily we can be controlled and made to kill"  
  
She paced behind her desk and looked back at them all, eyes firmly fixed ahead, almost looking through the class of people.  
  
"I don't expect any of you in this class to use it...well, maybe a couple may," her eyes fixed firmly on Malfoy "I'm not going to teach you how to effectively perform the curse, I'm here to show you how to fight it. Some of you will be able to, some of you wont. Some of you may not want too. However, whether you believe he-who-must-not-be-named is back or not, it is a vital defence."  
  
For the second time there was silence, even Malfoy looked taken aback. Perhaps, Harry thought, he didn't like the idea of being used as a pawn in Voldemort's chess game either.  
  
"I see I've got my message through. Good." She smiled half-heartedly at them and sighed.   
  
"Down to work. I'm going to teach you how to fight the Imperius curse and how to tell who has cast it."  
  
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The lesson had been interesting and informative, that was for sure. However, it had left many of the Gryffindor's slightly freaked, especially Neville. Ron and Hermione had looked very take aback too but Harry couldn't quite work out why, after four years of trouble he thought they'd have got over it by now.  
  
This had led him to question them over the matter whilst everyone was leaving the classroom. He had been surprised by their answer. Hermione had tried to shrug it of but Ron told him straight out, irritating Hermione no end. Both had been scared that one of them could be used to hurt Harry, a possibility Harry had never considered. He had simply responded by saying that they would all have to make sure they learnt how to fight it then. He doubted this would really calm their fears though.  
  
So now Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and the Weasley twins (who had joined them in the class room at the end of the lesson) were waiting to have an extra defence lesson. Ginny, Fred and George were there for the first time, mainly because Dumbledore felt it would be beneficial and partly, Harry guessed, because Mrs Weasley knew they'd all probably follow Harry into danger if he found any. It was probably a wise move then to have them better prepared just in case it happened.   
  
Hidellbank had cone to fetch Lupin as he was to help and it took them a full 10 minutes to return. Meanwhile Harry found out that Fred, George and Ginny had been told about Sirius this morning before the meeting and were sworn to secrecy. The twins were very excited about how normal he seemed, taking into account the fact he'd been in Azkaban for nearly 14 years of his life. Harry had replied that he probably was quite normal if you looked at it in that way. However, he had told them, if you considered the fact he spent at least 50% of the time as a big black dog he could hardly be called normal.  
  
This conversation was interrupted by Lupin and Hidellbank's entrance.  
  
"Nothing wrong with canine's Harry" said Lupin, a lopsided grin taking over his facial features. Harry smiled and half hugged Lupin who seemed pleased to have that kind of attention.  
  
"I'm sorry about this morning Harry," said Lupin cautiously "I could see you were angry, but for now Dumbledore's adamant he should keep students out."  
  
"Yes," cut in Hidellbank "He's really put his foot down, and you don't argue with Dumbledore when he's made up his mind."  
  
"S'ok" muttered Harry feebly, not even managing to sound vaguely convincing.  
  
Lupin shot Hidellbank a sort of 'oh dear' look and clapped his hands together, trying to brighten the mood.  
  
"Well," he said merrily "I want to see what kind of defensive hexes you can do. Neville, you go with Ginny, the two twins can go together, Ron and Hermione, Harry, you're with Sirene."  
  
Hidellbank raised her eyebrows at the use of her first name and winked at Harry, holding her wand like they were about to have a sword fight with them.  
  
"Just because you're practicing with a student doesn't mean you have to act like one," said Lupin in his best teacher voice, smirking at her whilst he said it.  
  
An hour later Harry was pretty damn sore, he'd been thrown onto the floor far to many times to count during that practice, but it was comforting for him to see that his Professor looked worse for ware too. Poor Neville looked the most pained as he had staid on his feet for no more than 2 minutes throughout the entire session. The two Weasley's were covered in green goo, flower petals and a paint like substance as after about 20 minutes of serious hexes they had resorted to more humorous means of defence. At one stage George had been growing a flowerpot on his head and Fred was lying on the floor, wobbling like jelly. Lupin had been very complimentary over this hex as Fred had been rendered truly helpless. Ron and Hermione had been fairly equally matched but they had stuck to practising more conventional hexes to try and improve at them. Harry guessed that this was because neither wanted to do any damage to the other so they had tread carefully. Obviously Lupin had picked up on this too and had declared that next time we should swap partners for variety. Harry pitied the two people who had to practice with Fred and George.   
  
"You've done well," stated Lupin "I could see you getting better and more powerful with the hexes as you went along. Next time we'll try a couple of more new ones."  
  
"You can have the fun of watching us demonstrating," said Hidellbank, almost as an afterthought.  
  
"Indeed you can," Lupin laughed "Go on, you better go get ready for dinner. Harry? Do you want to come with me for a bit?"  
  
Harry nodded at Lupin; he presumed they'd be going to see Sirius. Everyone else thanked the two teachers and then piled out of the classroom.  
  
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Lupin led Harry down a length of old grotty corridors that Harry had never been down before. They were underneath the school but not as far down as the dungeons according to Lupin. They were poorly lit, only one or two lamps lit the way and Harry felt sorry for Sirius being trapped down here. After a couple of minutes inside these corridors they came to two doors, one on either side. Lupin patted the door to his right and it opened to reveal a much better lit and fairly comfy living area. There was a desk, a couch, a bed and a door that looked like it led to a bathroom. Sirius was lying across the couch asleep with a copy of the Daily Prophet on his chest.   
  
"Hey!" exclaimed Lupin "Wake up you lazy animal!"  
  
Sirius shifted lazily and sat up, knocking the newspaper of him. He smiled sleepily and rubbed his eyes in an obvious attempt to wake him up a bit more.  
  
"Afternoon Harry" said Sirius sleepily "Lessons going okay?"  
  
Harry nodded and walked further into the room so Lupin could close the door behind them. Lupin joined Sirius on the couch but Harry remained standing, rooted to the spot.  
  
"So," Harry spoke up "how are things?"  
  
"Boring" replied Sirius "Damn boring actually. Nothing to do but laze round here, go for walks in the Forbidden Forest and annoy Snape...damn boring after a while, although the last one is still entertaining."  
  
Harry smiled at his God Fathers comment and he felt a bit more relaxed. He was not entirely sure why he was here, he had presumed that Sirius had wanted to speak about something important but it seemed unlikely now.  
  
"Suppose you're wondering why your here" stated Sirius, giving Lupin a small grin. "Well, thought it would be nice for you to come visit if you want too. Now you know where I am you can come visit me in James' invisibility cloak or something if you want too. Anyway, I just wanted to see that you were okay, not had much of a chance to speak to you except during the meal."  
  
"I'm fine," said Harry "Anything interesting in the Daily Prophet?"  
  
"Isn't there always" spoke up Lupin "An interesting work of fiction in some places is this. They still deny along with the Ministry that Voldemort's back and they claim that any suspect incidents are due to ex Death Eaters believing the stories that he's back."  
  
"Its ridicules" said Sirius coldly "the whole lot of them are fools".   
  
  
  
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Harry had not spent long with his godfather as he needed to get back to clean himself up for tea but it had been nice speaking to him.  
  
He had told Hermione and Ron and had promised to take them down with him the next time he went to see Sirius. Tea time had been a bit more lively than lunch time because Harry was feeling slightly better after seeing Sirius and having a fairly fun afternoon.   
  
However, two hours after tea had finished Harry found himself bored and contemplative again. His thoughts had again slipped back to Snape and the Concateno magic when he had returned the books to the library after tea. He couldn't help but wonder if Snape had gone to research the same thing after the dinner with Dumbledore or if Snape even knew what had happened that night at all. All in all Harry was frustrated with the situation. He and Snape had been getting on slightly better since they had been recalled to school and he really didn't want to risk angering the temperamental git by landing this on him. Privately hiding in the corner of the library were no one dares venture was not solving any problems but probably increasing them as his friends would be wondering where he was and he was sitting in the potions section. Just the area you don't need to be in when trying to stop thinking about matters that do involve your potions teacher. A potions teacher who Harry now realised was standing directly in front of him.  
  
"Jesus Potter" muttered Snape "What the hell are you doing here, I'd take 10 points away for giving me a fright if I knew I wouldn't be too embarrassed to explain myself to your Head of House."  
  
"Am thinking," muttered Harry quietly, wishing he wasn't sitting on the floor looking up at the man looking like an idiotic child.  
  
"What a novelty, and in the potions section two" Said Snape sarcastically "Miracles do happen."  
  
"Are you sure," muttered Harry "I'm still waiting for one."  
  
Snape gave him an inquisitive look and squatted down in front of him so they were on a similar level. His expression was one of curiosity and worry and Harry knew he was about to be quizzed.  
  
"Potter, what's wrong?" Snape asked, tilting his head to the side to watch his reaction closely.  
  
"Nothing" stated Harry as he stood up "Just being a typical teenager I guess and sulking about the woes of life."  
  
Snape raised his eyebrows at Harry and stepped up and aside for the boy to walk past him. As Harry did so Snape saw fit to comment,  
  
"I could take points away for lying to a teacher" he pointed out "but I suppose everyone as secrets or worries that they don't want to share."  
  
Harry had merely nodded and kept walking, unsure about what to say to Snape or what to think about their little encounter. He decided an early night would do him good and took that course of action.  
  
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This is a bit of an intermediate chapter too as its set the scene for all the issues Harry has to deal with (although you may not realise it) when school starts. This will be the next chapter up so stay tuned.   
  
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	13. School Starts

Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn - School Starts (part 12)  
  
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Disclaimer- Nothings changed, I'm still not the richest women in Britain, Rowling isn't my surname and they're not mine. Cheery ne?  
  
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The summer holidays flashed by without further event. The summer lessons had carried on throughout and had been fairly productive, there had been no more Death Eater attacks to Hogwarts and the Ministry still would not accept Voldemort was back. All in all nothing had changed. Harry had visited Sirius a few times, he'd been to another couple of the Order's updates and a meal for the members (and chosen students). He had spoken to Snape little since the incident in the library, only during the meal and occasionally briefly in the library and the occasional deserted corridor. Nothing of any interest had been said however and Snape nor Harry had mentioned anything to do with the Concateno magic.   
  
They had been allowed to practice quidditch again towards the end of the holidays and Anjelina had become head of the team and Ron had become Goal Keeper. He was very good at it although a little nervous sometimes when people were watching.  
  
During the week before the beginning of school various Diagon Ally trips had been organised and the third day before school had been the day the year five's had been allowed to go.   
  
It had been uneventful but Harry had enjoyed spending time in the three broomsticks and buying ice cream with his friends. The only unusual thing Harry had seen was Snape heading of down Knockturn ally whilst he and Ron where in the Quidditch shop. Ron's mum had allowed Ron to buy a new broom but he was on a budget so they had to go through all the pro's and con's for the brooms in his price range. Harry had not mentioned seeing Snape out the window to Ron and he knew Ron hadn't seen him as he had his back turned to the window, paying for the broom they had picked out. Harry was curious to know what Snape had been up to and planned to ask him at some point although he was unsure about how Snape would react to such a question.   
  
The next two days before school started flashed by as quickly as the rest of the holiday and to keep tradition they had decided to have an opening banquet the evening before school started. It was lively and everyone seemed ready to get back to their studies although the Slytherin benches were perhaps less happy than the others. Harry imagined it was because any there who sided with Voldemort were unhappy at his sudden quietness and to be honest, Harry was nervous about it too. Voldemort was building up strength and staying low. Harry guessed that after his failed attack on Hogwarts he realised he was underpowered and was now trying to rectify that. Of course, whilst he stayed low Dumbledore's warning about his return were being ignored and his claims ridiculed by the Daily Prophet and the Ministry of Magic. Harry had seen a few fairly annoying articles in the Prophet laughing about such claims. It made him angry, they were discounting his word too and his account of Cedric's death. The Prophet was stupid anyway, Harry had learnt that last year and therefore tried to ignore anything it said.   
  
Harry was brought out of his musing's by Dumbledore who stood up to address them all and everyone turned towards him curiously.  
  
"Before you all start going i have an announcement to make," he began "Next week we are to be inspected by the Ministry. It's just a routine check up but i thought i should inform you prior to there arrival. Thank you."  
  
Harry was curious to know why they were being inspected but he suspected it was something to do with the Ministries refusal to believe that Voldemort was back. It was likely that Sirius had been trying to hint to him that this was the case when Harry had visited him that time. Hermione lent across the table to him and Ron and notioned towards Dumbledore with her head.  
  
"He didn't seem to happy about that, i guess they're trying to discredit him" she said quietly.  
  
"You don't think they'd try and remove him as headmaster again do you?" asked Ron, his brow furrowed. Hermione shrugged and looked at Harry for his opinion but he had none to give and merely shrugged.  
  
"Are you OK?" she asked him, concern lacing her voice.  
  
"All quite on the western front" muttered Harry "He's been to quite, he wants Dumbledore discredited"  
  
Hermione and Ron looked at each other fleetingly and then back at Harry.  
  
"It'll be all right mate, Dumbledore'll sort the Ministry out" said Ron comfortingly and Harry couldn't help smile at his two friends who certainly couldn't help smiling at each other.  
  
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What sleep Harry actually got that night seemed to come and go as quickly as his summer and he still felt very tired when Ron had woken him that morning. Ron was ready far quicker than Harry so Harry had told him to go to breakfast with Hermione and he'd catch them up. Harry was ready not to long after Ron left although he was still late for breakfast and started to make his way towards the Great Hall. He was nearly there when he saw Snape, with a slight limp, disappear round a corner heading towards the Dungeons. He was guessing that Snape had come from the Hospital Wing and he was curious as to why. So without further thought he found himself following Snape down to the Dungeons.   
  
He'd heard Snape's office door close as he'd been coming down the stairs to the Dungeons so he knew were to look. He knocked on the door three times so he could be heard and to his suprise the door opened immediately.  
  
"Are you really so bored that you chose to follow me rather than just catch me up?" Snape said weakly as he gestured for Harry to come in. Harry walked past the potions professor into his office and turned as Snape closed the door.  
  
"You don't look too good" Harry stated, turning bottle of potions in his hand that he'd picked up from the table next to him.  
  
"According to the students i never look to good" replied Snape "Why are you here Potter?"  
  
Harry turned the potion in his hand again before putting it down.  
  
"I was concerned. Rough night?"  
  
"Evening actually, the night was spent trying to fix me up, Poppy's very good at patching me up" Snape gave Harry a wry smile and strode across the room to sit at his chair.  
  
"Sit" he said, pointing at the chair on the otherside of the desk "Shouldn't you be at breakfast?"  
  
"Yeah, but i got distracted" replied Harry, tapping his fingers on Snape's desk. "Why did you go to the meeting when you knew Lucius Malfoy had you figured out?"  
  
"I'm a spy" stated Snape, he made the answer sound so simple.  
  
"I don't think you class as a spy when they know you're spying, or when you're dead. I'm amazed you're still alive" Said Harry, watching Snape shift uncomfortably.  
  
"He seemed to find it more fitting to keep me alive. Something about leaving me miserable, worthless and useless" said Snape bitterly, grinding his teeth slightly.   
  
"You're not useless" said Harry firmly, giving Snape his most authoritative glare. he was rather perturbed to see Snape laugh at him, it wasn't meant to be funny and by merlin it was odd to see Snape laugh.  
  
Before Harry had time to question Snape's response he saw his potions master ring a bell to summon a house elf. One was there within seconds.  
  
"Could you bring me some breakfast and a cup of coffee please" asked Snape "You better get something for Potter here as he's missing breakfast to come baby-sit his most hated professor"  
  
The house elf looked a bit confused by Snape's remark but nodded politely and disappeared.   
  
"Why are you laughing?" asked Harry irritably.  
  
"I'm feeling rather stressed Harry, it was ever laugh or hex something. I thought you'd prefer the former" Harry blinked at Snape them smiled at his humour. He decided to broach the subject about Knockturn ally.  
  
"Erm, Professor, i saw you heading of down Knockturn ally the other day" started Harry, trying to sound as casual as he could.  
  
"Potion supply's" Snape cut in "Some of the stuff i used cant be bought in 'respectable' shops so i have to resort to trampling my way down there. Awful place if you ask me."  
  
Harry smiled, it was odd to hear Snape so at ease but at the same time comforting. It was certainly useful to have a decent working relationship with the man.  
  
  
  
The house elf reappeared and quickly set out breakfast on Snape's table. Each had an English breakfast and a round of toast but the elf had got Harry fresh orange juice rather than coffee.   
  
"I really only meant for it to get you some toast so you could be on your way" Snape commented "I suppose i shouldn't have expected it to read my mind."  
  
Harry smiled and tucked into his breakfast without another word. Both ate in silence and the next words were not spoken until after both was finished and were sipping on their drinks.   
  
"You look tired" Snape said, breaking what had been a fairly comfortable silence.  
  
"I've had trouble sleeping" Harry said honestly "Nothing feels right"  
  
Snape took another sip of his coffee before setting it down on the table and regarding Harry. Harry glanced up at him in confusion but said nothing.  
  
"Yes, nothing right," Snape agreed "We're managing to get on, the Dark Lord is staying low, there have been no more Death Eater attacks and you are distant from your best friends."  
  
"They like each other" Harry said simply "I feel like I'm in the way sometimes, but to be honest its more my fault than their's. They are trying so hard to be supportive but i keep pushing them away, i seem to need much more private time than i used too."  
  
Snape nodded and picked up his cup again, taking another sip before again setting it back down.   
  
"Have you told Sirius?" asked Snape casually, moving some papers at his side into a neater pile.  
  
"No" admitted Harry "He's not the right person to talk to, he's so caught up in other stuff"  
  
"Like your father?" asked Snape, he looked a bit like he's sucked a lemon for a few seconds before putting on his normal mask.  
  
"Aye" agreed Harry "I sometimes think he gets disappointed in me because I'm not like James. I don't have the same reactions, the same sense of humour and i don't feel like being fun right now."  
  
"I told you your father was a pain" said Snape casually "I look at you, think of him and grimace and Sirius dotes on you for being his son."  
  
"I thought you might have got over the grimacing by now" Harry muttered, drinking the rest of his juice quickly. Snape wrinkled his nose at him and sighed, looking a little lost for words.  
  
"I'm going back to Gryffindor tower before people start coming out of breakfast, see you in about 15 minutes for potions" said Harry stiffly and he turned towards the door.  
  
"Harry, understand that i no longer judge you by your father, i just see his looks in yours sometimes and it makes me feel awkward. I don't really know what to say."  
  
Harry did not turn back to him to reply.  
  
"Try saying sorry" he said irritably and he walked of towards the door. Snape thought about calling him back and telling him of for insolence but thought better of it. Harry would forgive him, he'd just have to try and be vaguely nice in potions.  
  
  
  
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"Ah, my regular grouping of Slytherin and Gryffindor" Snape said coldly, "I see Longbottom's still alive...pity"  
  
This caused a few sniggers from the Slytherin section but they went silent and Snape glided menacingly past them from the door to his desk.   
  
"I'd say something owe inspiring about fifth year potions but i doubt you'd care to hear it" he said, his expression cold. A few sniggers were again heard from the Slytherin's but an icy look hushed them. Harry, even though he was feeling irritable with Snape, could not resist a smile.  
  
"Do you find my plight funny, Potter" said Snape menacingly.  
  
"Plight sir?" Harry asked politely as Hermione and Ron watched with curiosity.  
  
"Yes plight Potter. Do you think i enjoy spending my time teaching sniveling brats potions?"   
  
Harry raised his eyebrows at Snape and racked his brain for a reply.  
  
"You might" he said fairly weakly "Some people enjoy strange things. Anyway, i always presumed it was the work you got to do outside of class that you enjoyed. I tend to presume you enjoy experimenting and creating the art that is potions"  
  
Harry said the final bit slowly as it was meant to remind everyone of their first potions lesson.   
  
"I'm impressed" Snape said coolly "That was an impressive answer considering your usual talent for getting questions wrong. If you weren't a Gryffindor I'd have given you house points."  
  
After the silence that had followed Snape's statement the lesson had been like any other. They had been taught a new potion, which Neville had blown up. Nothing new there, although the potions equipment and the desk were not damaged on this occasion. Snape had deducted 10 points from Gryffindor but had not found any other reasons to deduct points.   
  
At the end of the lesson, as everyone was leaving, Snape called for Harry to stay for a moment. Before all the students were out the room Snape spoke up.  
  
"I'm sorry" Snape said simply. Giving any students watching curiously cold looks that stopped them staring instantly.  
  
"It's okay" Harry replied,"I guess its hard to leave some things in the past"  
  
There was no need for anymore words and Harry left for his next class, transfiguration, with Ron and Hermione following behind looking thoroughly confused.   
  
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THIS CHAPTER IS VERY SNAPE, NEXT ONE WONT BE. NEXT ONE IS GOING TO BE PRETTY IMPORTANT THOUGH AS IT CONTAINS THE FIRST LINK WITH THE STORIES NAME (BLACK UNICORN). SORRY I'VE NOT UPDATED FOR SO LONG, BUT STAY TUNED.  
  
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